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TEPIC, Nayarit, Mexico, July 11, 2022.- Puerto
Rico opened the Men’s NORCECA Final Six Pan Am
cup beating Mexico in five sets 3-2 (21-25,
25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 15-14) at the Amado Nervo
Auditorium of Tepic, Nayarit.
It was a nail-biting match from start to finish
and despite Mexico´s advantages in every skill,
51-47 in attacks, a comfortable 12-6 margin in
blocks and 7-4 in aces, Puerto Rico won scoring
51 points on opponent errors while committing
39.
Outside hitter Klistan Lawrence with 16 points
all on kills was Puerto Rico’s leading scorer,
accompanied by outside hitter Pedro Molina with
10 points on 8 kills and two aces and outside
hitter Pelegrin Vargas also with 10 points on 8
kills, one block and one ace.
Opposite hitter Diego González of Mexico scored
a match-high of 20 points on 17 kills and three
blocks, outside hitters Mauro Isaac Fuentes and
Josué de Jesús Lopez contributed with 15 and 12
points respectively.
Puerto Rico (1-0) will face Dominican Republic
(0-1) and Mexico (0-1) meets Canada (1-0) on
Tuesday.
Klistan Lawrence, Top scorer of Puerto Rico:
“This was my first international match, that’s
why it was difficult, I adjusted, solved and in
the end played well. Facing the host team isn’t
easy, there was too much noise, the crowd
influenced our concentration. It’s always
important to start with a victory and mostly in
the last set that has 15 points, we were able to
get the victory”.
Diego González, Top scorer of Mexico:
“Unfortunately we couldn’t win, we worked hard.
Puerto Rico was able to adjust in the end,
that’s what it's all about. We had too many
errors and couldn’t solve them. Our serves were
out of rhythm, but there’s more competition
ahead. Everybody comes to win, there is no easy
opponent, we will give all, we’ve trained for
that. Our team is young, and this is the level
of play that helps us improve; it’s a long
road”.
Oswald Antonetti, Head Coach of Puerto Rico:
“Mexico is a great team, well trained, well
prepared, they have a well-established plan,
it’s clear; they came to play and it’s a
pleasure to face a team like that. We are in the
process of establishing our identity as a
country of good volleyball, with a young group
that’s trying to get to know each other better.
For us the victory is very important to gain
confidence for the rest of the tournament. We
showed character coming from behind, what’s
important is to keep our head high and rest for
our next match”.
Jorge Azair, Head Coach of Mexico:
“We were destroyed by our errors, we committed
errors at the end of the sets, we didn’t execute
our counterattacking. The only player on the
team with experience is Pedro Rangel that has a
knee injury, so we used him a little to take
care of him. The tournament is strong, and no
team is weak; this is just the beginning and we
must adjust to win a medal”. |
