Mexico defeats Venezuela in straight sets at Barranquilla

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 21, 2018.- Mexico defeated Venezuela in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-16) in pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament at the 2018 Barranquilla XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games at Humberto Perea Colliseum.

Mexico improves their record 2-0 while Venezuela drops to 0-2 in pool A. Mexico used its younger players while resting its starting lineup, handling the actions without any serious complications.

Mexico’s 12-4 huge margin in blocking was responsible of their second victory; they also led in aces (4-2) and in spikes (28-26). Mexico limited their errors to 12 points while scoring on 21 Venezuelan errors.

Opposite player Uxue Guereca scored a match-high of 20 points, on 17 kills, 2 blocks and one ace; she was the only Mexican with double figures. Wing spiker Nelmaira Valdez of Venezuela scored 12 points, on 11 kills and one ace; joined by middle blocker Meriyen Serrano with 11 points, on 9 kills and one block.

Mexico finishes the preliminary round on Sunday facing Dominican Republic and Venezuela meets Cuba.

Mexican Samantha Bricio said her team performed well, despite the tough match to Cuba last night; “we aren’t at our best yet, we need rest, we have been doing ice therapy and everything necessary to recover. Today’s score was close, but our goal was to win in three sets. Today everyone chipped in, our bench players did a good job and the young players supported our winning effort. We are aiming to win gold”.

“We have all the necessary elements to perform better, I didn’t expect this score” said Venezuelan captain Meriyen Serrano. “We lacked concentration” she added.

Ricardo Naranjo, Mexico’s head coach indicated “our Young players had the chance to perform; they are preparing and slowly gaining more confidence, while we are ready for a generation change. Today’s match was too passive, the level was low and we must learn always to perform with our usual rhythm. Our next opponent is Dominican Republic, one of the top 10 teams in the world, with a vast experience and many years performing together; and we are ready to play with everything we got.

Cuban Ihosvani Chamber, head coach of Venezuela expressed “our opponents benefited from our receiving and serving errors, taking the lead in every set. My team is very young, still developing and we weren’t able to take advantage of Mexico’s spaces. The scores were close”.