Mexico opens Pan Am Cup winning to Trinidad and Tobago

COLIMA, Mexico, June 16, 2019. - Mexico opened the fourteenth Men’s Pan American Cup winning to Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-22) on Sunday night at the Multifunctional Auditorium in Colima, Mexico.

Mexico got off to a good start in pool B leading 41-33 in spikes, 5-3 in blocks and 6-3 in aces. Both teams finished with similar amount of errors, Mexico with 22 and Trinidad and Tobago with 23.

Opposite Daniel Vargas was Mexico’s top scorer with 11 points on 9 kills and 2 aces; wing spiker Jorge Barajas and middle blocker Jonathan Martinez collected 8 points apiece. Opposite Ryan Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago led all scorers with 16 points on 14 kills, one block and one ace, followed by wing spiker Brandon Legall with 12 points all on kills.

Mexico (1-0) is set to play against Peru (0-1) on Monday and Trinidad and Tobago (0-1) will face Puerto Rico (1-0).

Comments:

Pedro Rangel, captain Mexico: “We didn’t find our game, things got complicated and we could have done much more. We must see what needs to be improve and move forward; this isn’t Mexico’s game-level”.

Akim Bushe, captain Trinidad y Tobago: “We came out touchy, we achieved some of our personal goals and we would have hoped for a better blocking game. We had some errors and didn’t capitalize on blocks. It was a very interesting game and unfortunately there was some miscommunication at the end”.

Jorge Azair, coach Mexico: “We’re not satisfied with our performance, we committed too many errors in attacks and blocks; we weren’t in rhythm and the play really high. This is the beginning, we will get better every day and what’s important is that we won 3-0”.

Gideon Dickson, coach Trinidad y Tobago: “We showed that we deserve to be here. It was a good game, a good icebreaker for us. I think Mexico’s experience got the better of us. The game could have gone either way, especially from the second set. I am very proud of my guys and I think there’s a lot more that we can give and we need to put pressure from the start to Puerto Rico tomorrow”.