Mexico succeeds against Chile to finish fifth

 HAVANA, Cuba, April 2, 2017– Mexico defeated Chile 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-15) to conclude with a success at the IV Pan American U-18 Girls’ Cup held at the Sports City Coliseum.  

Leading the winning offensive, there were three players: Guereca Parra and Greda Castro with 13 points apiece followed by Daniella Siller (10). For the South Americans, Beatriz Novoa was the only one who scored double figures (14).

In this tournament, Mexico got its world ticket after finishing runner-up in the Pool C with victories over Guatemala (3-2) and Uruguay (3-0) and a loss against Dominican Republic (0-3); and in quarterfinals, against Colombia (1-3).

Likewise, Chile was runner-up in Pool A with a triumph over Puerto Rico (3-2) and a loss against Argentina (1-3); in quarterfinals, they could not stop the Cuba’s impetuous (0-3).

Ricardo Naranjo, Cuban coach of Mexico: “Finishing with a victory is positive for them. It strengthens the fighting spirit. For this match, we planned an aggressive service which was what made the difference and we could come from behind in the first set. I think it was a key factor to dominate throughout the game. Adding international matches is vital for us. Some of my pupils had never had such experience. It was an event with a high technical,t actical and physical levels where we found South American teams who already have good sports performance and international height average.”

Eduardo Guillaume, Chilean coach: “It was a typical match between two teams who had to go for what they had not come. However Mexico controlled the game tempo and the strength to do it well. On the contrary, we were a mess. It was a nice tournament, although we did not finish well. We are leaving with a quite bad image. Consequently, we will have to work on it analyzing what happened to us.”

Karla Mirelis, Mexican captain: “We implemented what we knew and we did our utmost to win, and we got it.”

Maike Bartens, Chilean captain: “We wanted to end it up winning, but we did not get it. Maybe it was as a result of the tiredness. Today we started well, but we were not able to fulfill our aims. So it remains us to continue training and think about the near future.”