Peru edges Puerto Rico in five-set thriller

HAVANA, Cuba, March 21, 2013 – Peru won a thrilling match of five sets over Puerto Rico by scores of 22-25, 25-21, 25-15, 19-25, 15-13) to advance to the semifinals of the U-20 Women’s Pan American Cup.

It was the first victory for the South Americans in the tournament after going down with a 0-3 win-loss record in the preliminary round of Pool A.

Both teams scored with 14 blocks and Puerto Rico held a 6-2 margin in the aces category. During the match that lasted 2 hours and 8 minutes, the winners committed 29 unforced errors to 39 by the defeated team.

Angela Leyva and Izabot Bravo topped the winners with 19 and 18 points respectively while Gina Lopez contributed 10 tallies. Puerto Rican Daly Santana led all the players in the match with 24 points, followed on her team by Pilar Victoria and Kanisha Jimenez with 18 and 11 respectively.

In Friday’s semifinals, Peru goes against Mexico, winner of Pool A and Colombia meets Dominican Republic.

On the other hand, in the consolation round for the positions 5-8, Puerto Rico clashes with Costa Rica and Cuba meets Chile.