Puerto Rico rallies to beat Chile

HAVANA, Cuba, March 18, 2013 - Puerto Rico came from behind to beat Chile in five sets and scored an opening day victory in Pool B of Women's U-20 Pan American Cup.

The South Americans dominated the first two sets, but the Puerto Rican team-effort, led by their captain Daly Santana, who finished with 27 points, and the response of the bench  led them to the victory 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25 -16 and 15-13.

The young coach Carlos Cruz did not hide his joy at his triumphant international debut, "but more so because my girls reacted to a good serve of Chile and the attack of player Catalina Melo".

Santana admitted that it was a difficult game at first because, "we made ​​mistakes in the service, but could find the right plays."

The other double-digit Puerto Rican was the opposite Kanisha Jimenez (16), while in Chile had Mariana Salinas (20), Lucía Lozano (16) and Catalina Melo (15).

Josefa Shuler, captain of the South American team, complained they did not meet what they had trained for. "The anxiety for the victory cost us the game.”.

The Chilean coach blamed the setback to the emotional factor more than technical, because "we could not have the will to overcome the bad times and my best players did not do well all the time, we fail to defend."