Colombia wins the South American duel to Chile

LIMA, Peru, August 19, 2018 - Colombia swept Chile 3-0 in the South American duel for fifth place in the IV U23 Pan American Cup. In 1 hour 14 minutes those led by Bryan Silva got triumph with partial scores of 25-17, 25-21, 25-13.

Despite the solid blocking work done by Colombia, the losing team had the top scorers of the game, Maike Mertens and Beatriz Novoa with 16 and 10 points each. The best Colombians were Ana Karina Olaya and Valerin Carabali with 13 and 12 units respectively.

Colombia took a wide advantage in blocking (12-2), dominated in attack (41-31) and service (7-3). Both teams committed 15 unforced errors.

Bryan Silva, coach of Colombia: "We had good matches and other not so good but that is part of the process, that is why we have come to experience and engage with teams that we do not have easy access to and that help us see our mistakes and grow for the South American U20 ".

Valerin Carabali, captain of Colombia: "We are very happy for the experience in this tournament, it was our first international competition of the year as a team and it helped us to adapt more, to improve our technique and above all to unite more as a family".

Eduardo Guillaume, coach of Chile: "I think that until today, all our matches had been well-fought, with great enthusiasm; but today that did not work. I'm not satisfied with today's performance, we knew that the rival had perhaps more strength but we had to play as equals. "

Maike Bertens, Chile's top scorer: "We're a bit disappointed in how we closed the competition, it was not the game we were hoping to do. We train very hard, we work a strategy but we do not meet it on the field, we know we still have a lot to give "