Puerto Rico claims ticket to the world championship

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, October 14, 2017 – Daly Santana scored 16 points and Stephanie Enright and Alba Hernandez each contributed 9 points as Puerto Rico secured a spot in next year’s FIVB Women’s World Championship in Japan after a 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-13) victory over Guatemala on Saturday.

It is the fifth consecutive time that Puerto Rico qualify to the world championship and seventh overall.

 Puerto Rico blanked Guatemala 9-0 in the service category and edged their opponents 5-4 in the blocking department.

Rut Gomez and Patricia Villalobos were the best scorers for Guatemala with 8 and 6 points, respectively.

Javier Gaspar, Coach of Puerto Rico: “Very glad with the qualification that was our main objective. Now we have to add some other players to face the teams from our zone and other continents. The group started well but we reduced the intensity in the next sets. Tomorrow we have to grow as a team and play better when we face in the Cup. We will work several strategies for the match against Dominican Republic.”

Natalia Valentin, Captain of Puerto Rico: “I am super happy with the qualification because not everybody has the chance to play in a world championship and we have achieved it one more time. This victory is for our Island to get good news in the difficult times we are going through.”

William Fernandez, Coach of Guatemala: “The team entered under pressure in the first set but our game improved in the next sets. Now we have to think about defeating Jamaica tomorrow, that´s the game we have to win. We will work on the lessons learned the past two days.”

Blanca Recinos, Capitain of Guatemala: “The team played better for the last two sets so we are happy since Puerto Rico is one of the top 15 teams in the world.”