Puerto Rico gets good start at Pan Am Cup

CAÑETE, Peru, June 17, 2017 – Puerto Rico started off on the right foot in Pool A of the XVI Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup by scoring a straight-set win 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 28-26) over Colombia at Lolo Fernandez Coliseum in Cañete.

Olympians Daly Santana in the attack and setter Natalia Valentin in the distribution of the offense played key roles in the victory.

Santana had 20 points to lead Puerto Rico while Sofia Jusino added 10 in the victory. Margarita Martinez and Giselle Perez had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Colombia.

Natalia Valentin (Captain of Puerto Rico): “I hope we can improve as we advance in the tournament. Colombia is a good team and we had to adjust in the third set when they made some substitutions.”

María Marin (Captain of Colombia): “We improved as the match went on. Our working process started just a few weeks ago and we are getting to know the new coach. It is a long tournament and we will improve.”

Javier Gaspar (Coach of Puerto Rico): “The girls were a Little bit nervous at the start especially in the reception. I think we did a good job in the blocking, touching a lot of balls and getting the chance of counter attack.”

Antonio Rizola (Coach of Colombia): “First match of a tournament is tough especially for a young team as we have three players who are U18. The team started a little nervous. We were not able to keep the level of the attack and Puerto Rico took advantage of their serves. It is a learning process for us and we are doing the job.”