Peru advances to the match for positions 5/6 

PONCE, PUERTO RICO, August 12, 2023.- Peru will play against Colombia for positions 5/6 of the XX Senior Women's Volleyball Pan American Cup, defeating Canada this Saturday in three close sets (3-0) with scores from 25-20, 25-22, 25-21, at the Juan “Pachín” Vicens Auditorium in Ponce. 

Peru fell, 3-2, to Canada in the group stage. The Peruvians managed to maintain control of each set and the advantage, when their opponents tried to come from behind. 

The triumph guided Peru to the match for positions 5/6 against Colombia this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Canada will play Mexico for positions 7/8. 

The captain of Peru, Karla Ortiz, was the best scorer of the match with 20 points (18 kills, 1 block, 1 ace); Ysabella Sánchez contributed with 14 points (13 attacks, 1 ace); and María Paula Rodríguez with 12 points (10 attacks, 1 blocks, 1 ace). 

For Canada, Shainah Joseph finished with 12 points (11 kills and one block) and Andrea Mitrovic with 11 pts. 

Francisco Hervas Tirado, Coach of Peru: “The team is very proud that the girls are doing an important job. We needed a joy. You work a lot and, in the end, sometimes you fall short, and you don't quite find that reward. Today I am very happy for them because it was a very important game for everyone. Now, to enjoy it and think about tomorrow's game (against Colombia). We had already lost 3-2 with Canada and we considered the opportunity to have a challenge; and tomorrow we will have it with Colombia, which we also lost 3-2 and we are going with the same idea. Sometimes life doesn't give you that opportunity to have a second chance so quickly. We will have it now, and we are going to try to take advantage of it”. 

Ysabella Sánchez, Outside hitter of Peru: “We went all out because we wanted to win. We wanted to fight for fifth place because the match we lost with them (Mexico) we lost due to lack of concentration, I think. This time we went all out. For tomorrow we are focused against Colombia. It will be a difficult match, but we are going to give it our all”. 

Shannon Winzer, Coach of Canadá: “Tomorrow, we play Mexico. Mexico's been playing some good volleyball. Today, we absolutely underperformed. Peru did a good job, and they took advantage of our poor performance, and they won the game. It's difficult to win games when we make so many errors and we can't have that. This is international volleyball the game moves too quick and there is not a good performance”.