Peru Takes Second Place in Pool B

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, September 18, 2024. - Peru took second place in Pool B after a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-17) victory over host Suriname in the Under 23 Men’s Pan American Cup, at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo.

Peru ended pool-play with 2-1 record and Suriname finished 1-2. In Thursday’s quarterfinals, Peru will face the Dominican Republic (5:00 pm) and Suriname will take on Mexico (8:00 pm).

Peru dominated every skill of the game: attacks (43-25), blocks (7-5), and serves (8-2), though they committed more errors (19-17).

Three players from Peru scored in double digits: Gerardo Chicoma (17), Piero Porras (15), and Leonel Despaigne (11).

On Suriname's side, Lee A Leong scored 15 points.

The first set was tied at 5 points before Peru took control without difficulties. In the second set, despite Suriname's efforts through Lee A Leong, Peru once again dominated the play. The third set was tightly contested, with both teams tied early on, but Peru applied pressure with strong blocking from Piero Porras and serves from Luis Ñiquen and Adrian Gushiken to secure the victory in three sets.

Diego Recavarren, Head coach of Peru: “The host team has improved a lot in their level; it was a tough game, but fortunately, my team stayed focused on what they needed to do, including committing few errors and being aggressive with serves and blocking. I think we accomplished that. Now we face the Dominican Republic, a strong and tall team. We are going to play well and counterattack their best attackers to show the progress that men’s volleyball in our country has made”.

Carlos Orta Fellove, Head coach of Suriname: “From the beginning, I knew today’s game against Peru and yesterday’s game against Guatemala would be difficult. We did everything we could, all the efforts, all the necessary changes to win, but it was tough. The boys gave it their all and reached the peak of their performance”.