Puerto Ricans win against combative Trinidadians

PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, June 5, 2018.- Puerto Rico defeated a combative Trinidad and Tobago in straight sets (25-15, 25-14, 27-25) at the opening of the NORCECA Men's Challenger Cup for a ticket to the World Final qualifying to the League of Nations of the FIVB 2019.

In the November 19 Pavilion the young Puerto Ricans showed they group very well the blocking and a very precise service, as well as a stability in the receipt and a strategy of play that they fulfilled like experienced players who know Volleyball very well.

For their part, the Trinidadians confirmed that they are part of a rising team that has progressed by taking advantage of the opportunities in each tournament, they raised many balls, they made a strong resistance, but they lacked competitive experience.

The top scorer of the match was the opposite Pedro Rosario (12 points) while the other who contributed the most for the Puerto Ricans was Pablo Guzmán (9). For the rivals, the opposite Ryan Stewart (10) stood out-

Manuel Acevedo, debutant technical director of Puerto Rico, praised the work of his opponents, "they managed in the third quarter to make fewer mistakes and we got complicated, because we changed the rotation of the players, we lost momentum and they won in confidence, they played better in that end, they even tied us, but that's good for the teams to learn to play in that definition zone and take out a partial that had been entangled.”

Captain Ramón Burgos assured that he is very satisfied with his team, "it is the first time we played together as a group and we did a good job, we know there are many things to improve, but the format of the tournament suits us because our last game will be the against Cuba, I trust that we go from less to more and prepare for that important clash with the locals."

Trinidadian coach Sean Morrison pointed out that "we went out to give everything from the beginning so that good and bad moments happened, we got very determined on the court and we always played hard, little by little we will keep raising our level, I saw my boys well and I hope they do it better."

His captain Stewart said that "we did not start at the maximum of our abilities but we entered determinedly and gradually we went up, without thinking that we could not resist and that allowed us in the last set to be up to par with our rivals. We will feel better and even though it is not our main commitment of the season, we will do our best".

This Wednesday at first hour (15:30) will be pitted Trinidad-Tobago vs Costa Rica and in the closing (18:30) Guatemala vs. Puerto Rico.  Cuba has a day of rest.