Peru defeats Guatemala to play for seventh place

COLIMA, Mexico, June 19, 2019. - Peru defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) and will play for seventh place at the fourteenth edition of the Men’s Pan American Cup being held at the Multifunctional Auditorium of Colima, Mexico.

Peru and Guatemala both have improved their game level notoriously; this was a rematch from past year’s edition in Cordoba, where Guatemala beat Peru for twelfth place. Peru waits for Canada or Dominican Republic to decide seventh place of the event.

Despite Guatemala’s good defense efforts, Peru’s consistent offence took control with 47-37 advantage in attacks, 8-2 in blocks and 8-4 in aces. Peru handed out 22 points on errors and scored only 12 on Guatemalan errors.

Peru’s captain Eduardo Romay scored a match-high of 21 points including 15 kills and five unstoppable serves, followed by outside hitter Alvaro Hidalgo that contributed with 20 points. Opposite Gerardo Gonzalez led Guatemala with 12 points, middle blocker Brandon Chinchilla and outside hitter Wagner Chacón chipped in with 11 points each.

Comments:

Alvaro Hidalgo, outside hitter Peru: “Our team effort has been key the entire tournament and today wasn’t the exception. Since we started the competition we had already improved from the past Pan American Cup. A spiker is always ready for crucial moments during a match, and today it was my turn to close and I am really happy with my team’s work, but not satisfied”.

Carlos Lopez, captain Guatemala: “Today was a rematch for them, this time we lost. Things we had planned did not work out. We were really close, we needed to concentrate more and now we must think about tomorrow”.

Juan Gala, coach Peru: “The team has been improving, in contrast from last year; Guatemala beat us easily in the past edition. Our next opponent (Canada or Dominican Republic) will be demanding as well, but what’s in our minds is our team’s development, we are preparing for Lima and this is a great preview for our objective to put up a good spectacle and today we are showing it, improving four positions”.