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San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 20, 2016 – The successful showings of
Colombia and hosts Puerto Rico against the African teams from
Kenya and Algeria on day one of the Women’s World Olympic
Qualification Tournament have many experts considering the
contest between the two sides on Saturday as crucial to define
the ticket to the Rio de Janeiro.
Those experts include Eduardo Guillaume, the Argentinean who now
is coaching Colombia.
“I don’t want to underestimate Algeria but our next match
against Puerto Rico practically will define the spot to the Rio
de Janeiro Olympic Games,” Guillaume admitted. “We have a
strategic plan and will reinforce some details. The role of the
staff is to transmit calm to our players and to ensure they come
in with good mentality.”
In the first match of Friday, Colombia allowed only 42 points to
Kenya in three sets only to see Puerto Rico close curtain by
stopping Algeria in just 33 points.
The South American team defeated Kenya 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-13)
with an eye-popping performance by the 33-year-old Madeleine
Montaño that amazed everyone watching, even his coach Guillaume.
“Madeleine is an impressive players and she does things you
don’t see often in a volleyball court,” Guillaume commented
afterwards. “I think she is going to be better against Puerto
Rico.”
Kenny Moreno and Melissa Rangel contributed 12 and 10 points in
the lopsided win with Rangel scoring five of the 10 blocks by
her side.
Puerto Rican coach Juan Carlos Nuñez probably was thinking about
Montaño and Moreno when he commented about a couple of good
attackers his team needs to stop on Saturday.
“They have a couple of important attackers but I think the
reception is part of their weaknesses,” Nuñez said. “We need to
locate our serves and try to neutralize those offensive
players.”
Playing before a crowd close to 6,000 at Roberto Clemente
Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico beat Algeria 3-0 (25-10,
25-11, 25-12).
Nuñez used all his personnel in an effort to get them into
rhythm, he reasoned during the post-game press conference. As a
result no players reached double figures in the scoring charts
with Karina Ocasio and Alexandra Oquedo sharing honors as best
scorers with 9 points apiece. Daly Santana came off the bench to
contribute 8 points, including three aces.
“I used all my players because at the end the reserves are the
ones who win the crucial matches,” Nuñez said. |
