Puerto Rico subdues Mexico in straight sets

SANTO DOMINGO,  Dominican Republic, July 2, 2016 – Puerto Rico started its campaign at the XV Women’s Pan American Cup with a straight-set 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-23) win over Mexico in Pool A on Saturday.

Puerto Rican coach Juan Carlos Nuñez rotated his players and everyone saw action in the match. Karina Ocasio and Stephanie Enright were the best scorers for the winning side with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Daly Santana came off the bench to contribute 8 points.

Bibi Candelas topscored Mexico with 8 points, followed by Karina Flores and Andrea Rangel who tallied seven apiece.

“We are glad but not satisfied with our game today,” said Vilmarie Mojica, the setter of Puerto Rico. “We didn’t have the consistency we have showed during the summer. We made too many errors with our serves and we have to reduce that.”

“We were in the game most of the time but the inexperience cost us the match in the decisive moments of the sets,” Mexican Dulce Carranza stated.

“It was a deserved victory for Puerto Rico,” said Mexico’s Ricardo Naranjo. “We tried to neutralize their offense with aggressive serves but our inexperience was a factor.”

“We made 22 errors in just two sets and that’s too many,” said Juan Carlos Nuñez, the coach of Puerto Rico. “We made too many errors with our serves and the reception in the third set was not good but we also had some reserve players in action.”