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EDMONTON, Canada, January 10, 2016 – Mexico made a sensational
comeback to defeat Puerto Rico in five sets 3-2 (23-25, 16-25,
26-24, 26-24, 15-10) in the match for third place at the NORCECA
Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament on Sunday at Saville
Sports Centre of Edmonton.
By finishing in third place, Mexico remained in contention for
an Olympic berth and will be competing at the Intercontinental
Qualification Tournament in May against the third placed team
from South America and the second and third place teams from
Africa for the last spot in the twelve-team field in Rio de
Janeiro.
Jorge Barajas and Nestor Orellana led Mexico with 16 and 15
points, respectively, while Ivan Marquez and Gonzalo Ruiz
contributed 12 and 10 in the victory.
Puerto Rico’s Sequiel Sanchez had a match-high 22 points,
followed by Maurice Torres with 17. Mannix Roman and Enrique
Escalante finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the
loss.
Mexico outblocked Puerto Rico 13-4 while the defeated side won
the battle of the aces 10-5.
Jorge Azair, Coach of Mexico: “The boys played like warriors.
That’s the best way to describe their way of playing in the last
three sets. They showed a lot of character when we almost had
the last nail on the coffin. We continue with our Olympic
dream.”
Gonzalo Ruiz, Player of Mexico: “I am so grateful of my coach
who gave me the opportunity to play in the last three sets after
my subpar production in the first two matches. Our team never
quit and came back to battle until the last point.”
Javier Gaspar, Coach of Puerto Rico: “We had the fourth set to
win the match and didn’t do it. A fifth set is always emotional.
I think Mexico deserve the credit for doing the job when it
mattered the most, at the end of the sets.”
Enrique Escalante, Captain of Puerto Rico: “There are not words.
And there are no excuses. We simply choked. We had two
match-points and didn’t execute.
Credit to Mexico.” |
