Puerto Rico wins Mexico in Challenger of Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, May 31, 2019. - Puerto Rico edged Mexico 3-2 (19-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13) in its first appearance at the Norceca Challenger Tournament Men's Volleyball, played in the Sports City Coliseum, which grants the champion the ticket to the World Final of the League of Nations.

Emotional match between two teams plagued by young figures, who engaged in a fight for each point, although the Puerto Ricans took good advantage of the mistakes of their rivals mainly in the service, who lives the competition with a couple of setbacks after falling yesterday to Cuba 3 -0.

In the tie-break however the Mexicans tightened the serve and it was a tenacious fight until the last hug to 13 points when a poor reception put the Puerto Ricans at the gates of victory that did not let escape after 2 hours and 14 minutes of action.

For Puerto Rico, the champion of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla 2018, was led by opposite     r Rodríguez, who in his first international exam was the top scorer with 30 points, followed by Pelegrín Vargas (20), Kevin López (17 ) and Pedro Nieves (10).

Gonzalo Ruiz was again the most productive Mexican today with 18, escorted by Axel Téllez Rodríguez (14) and Alejandro Moreno (12).

The Puerto Ricans surpassed their opponents in attack (65-48) and in service (11-7), while the Mexicans were better in blocking (11-7) and unforced errors (23-35).

Manuel Acevedo, technical director of the Puerto Ricans, recalled that "it was a match as always when we faced each other, rivals that competitively played at par, but our youth at last, started erring a lot and we had problems with errors in some parts of the sets, however, in character test under an adverse score of 11-12, we converted and won, and for this group it means a lot to draw a game like that ".

"If we had not had the setbacks of the third I think we could close the crash in the fourth, even Mexico came from behind, but we put up with it. In general it was very even, but we made a lot of mistakes and we have to work on that if we want to compete at the highest level, in which there are already two types of service, one hard and one security. "

Pelegrín Vargas, the twenty-year-old captain of Puerto Rico who starts as a starter, thinks that "because of the youth of our team we started a little bit shy, but little by little we were seeing what we were capable of and we gained confidence, each time we fought more and achieved what we wanted Mexicans are always warriors, my respects to them for their good work, the game was decided by minimal difference that anyone could succeed. We gain experience, this helps us grow emotionally and for our future. "

Sergio Herrera, coach of Mexico, said in dismay that "you know how it feels when you have the win so close. In general, the performance of the group I liked, ten players debut at international level in majors, but they showed that they know how to move the ball, they did not have an attack like against Cuba, but they are efficient in that. It cost us the game three errors in defense and a receipt in the tie-break. Puerto Rico is efficient, knows how to work, is not great power in the attack but does well in the long zones and knows how to change the pace ".

His captain Gonzalo Ruiz pointed out that "it was a very even challenge, any of us could win, we improved a lot from yesterday to today, a different job, we were able to stabilize for longer moments the reception, it was a big shock and we lost to the limit, but that is already behind, now to take the positive out of these games, there is still a long way to go and we are sure to find Cuba and Puerto Rico, we have to think about the future and with great motivation ".

This Saturday concludes the tournament with the match, at 6:00 pm local time, between Puerto Rico and Cuba, the latter winning the first day against Mexico 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21). As the previous days, this is broadcast by the Tele Rebelde channel and Radio Rebelde radio not great power in the attack but does well in the long zones and knows how to change the pace ".

His captain Gonzalo Ruiz pointed out that "it was a very even challenge, any of us could win, we improved a lot from yesterday to today, a different job, we were able to stabilize for longer moments the reception, it was a big shock and we lost to the limit, but that is already behind, now to take the positive out of these games, there is still a long way to go and we are sure to find Cuba and Puerto Rico, we have to think about the future and with great motivation ".

This Saturday concludes the tournament with the match, at 6:00 pm local time, between Puerto Rico and Cuba, the latter winning the first day against Mexico 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21). As the previous days, this is broadcast by the Tele Rebelde channel and Radio Rebelde radio.