Puerto Rico beat Mexico and qualify to semifinals

CORDOBA, Mexico, November 17, 2014 - Puerto Rico defeated Mexico and clinched their second victory at the Central American and Caribbean Games by winning 3-1 score (25-17, 22-25, 27-25, 25-20) at the Cordoba Arena. Sarai Álvarez closed with 22 points for Puerto Rico, while Aury Cruz scored 20 and Yarimar Rosa finished with 10. Claudia Ríos was the top scorer for Mexico with 17 units.

Seomara Sainz scored 14, Jocelyn Urías finished with 11 and Andrea Rangel scored 10. Mexico had a better blocking advantage with a 11-7 ballance.  The service strategy on both sides was tight with 4 aces on each side. Mexico surrendered 26 points by mistake and Puerto Rico 25. Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic advanced directly to semifinals as they finished atop of their pools.

“We are happy for the victory. We would like to finish it in three sets. Mexico have increased their level due to the work of Jorge Azair. My players had full control of their emotions in front of a big audience,” said Jose Mieles, coach of Puerto Rico.

“It’s a matter of learning and working hard in this kind of situations. Congratulations to Puerto Rico for this victory. The match fell out of our hands. We didn’t keep calm to close.”

Mexican captain Andrea Rangel said: “We could not keep concentration on our side. Especially the last set. Things went wrong. Congratulations to Puerto Rico”.

Yarimar Rosa, captain of Puerto Rico, stated: “We stopped to do our work and struggled a little bit. We looked have an overwhelming win in three sets. But struggled against Mexico, that is a very competitive team at home, but fortunately we won.”