Dramatic tie-break victory for Puerto Rico against Peru

DURANGO, Mexico, May 22, 2019. - Puerto Rico beat Peru in dramatic tie-break 3-2 (26-24, 14-25, 15-24, 27-25, 15-13) in pool B at the U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup being played at Auditorio del Pueblo of Durango, Mexico.

This was Puerto Rico’s first win, entering in tomorrow’s final pool-play match to Cuba (2-0) with 1-1 record despite the loss of key player Sofia Victoria who missed the match after yesterday’s injury against Guatemala.

It was a nail biting first set with Puerto Rico taking charge, reaching a sizeable six point margin (12-6) and remaining on top up to a tied 23-23 score as Peru’s blockers slowed down their offense.

Peru quickly recovered with effective spikes especially in the middle and totally dominating Puerto Rico with comfortable margins in sets two and three; still Puerto Rico showed a spectacular display in defense. Peru worked hard in set four to recover from a four-point deficit (12-16) pushing strong and tying the scores on several occasions. Finally Puerto Rico came on top in the tie-break benefiting from Peru’s unforced errors.

Puerto Rico did better in blocking with 16-11 margin; however, Peru prevailed with 50-46 advantage in attacks and 3-2 in serves. Puerto Rico allowed 50 points on errors while Peru finished with 24.

Puerto Rico persevered with a balanced offense thru middle blocker Alondra Maldonado with (16pts), outside hitter Valeria Otero (13pts), middle blocker Marcelle Baez (13pts) and outside hitter Jennifer Collazo (12pts). Three players excelled on Peru’s side, middle blockers Yohmara Rivera (15pts) and Maria Torres (12pts), along with outside hitter Carolina Milla (12pts).

Peru (0-2) finishes pool-play facing Guatemala (0-2).

Top scorer middle blocker Alondra Maldonado of Puerto Rico said it was a thrilling victory “Peru is not an easy opponent, thank God we finished winning. Our starting setter is an important piece for our team and sitting her affected us psychologically, Peru took advantage of the situation. Today we showed our great heart and tomorrow we can’t be too confident against Cuba”.

Puerto Rico’s coach Juan Carlos Rodríguez expressed “it’s a satisfying victory with a lot of tension and setbacks. The girls were able to execute as planned, with the game system we determined before the match after studying videos of Peru. Peru reached a sizeable advantage because we don’t have a good physical condition; Peru plays all year long, we had difficulties recovering during the match in that aspect. We will look to win against Cuba but finishing second in our pool is also good”.