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TORONTO, Canada, July 19, 2015 – United States recovered from
losing the first set and a serious threat in the second and went
on to defeat Mexico 3-1 (20-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-17) in the last
match of day two at the men’s volleyball tournament of the Pan
American Games at Exhibition Center in Toronto.
It was the first victory for the USA team that lost to Puerto
Rico in the opening day. Mexico is winless in two outings.
The Americans won the match despite committing 40 unforced
errors to 27 by the Mexicans. They, however, dominated in blocks
(11-2), service winners (9-3) and attacks (50-38).
Zachary La Cavera and Taylor Averill had 17 and 16 points,
respectively, as the best scorers for USA. Brian Cook was next
with 14 while Torey DeFalco added 11, including three aces and
two blocks.
Daniel Vargas and Jorge Barajas stood out among Mexican players
with 14 and 13 points in the losing effort.
Charles Sullivan, Coach of USA: “Mexico is a really good team,
with an amazing ball control. They put a lot of pressure on us.
We were making mistakes. I just talked to the guys so we could
improve the match. It was a good match. We’ve had to expedite
the process of becoming a team. This is the second game against
teams that have played World League competition on summer and
have been together for a long time.”
Roberto Vilches, Coach of Mexico: “The first set was too
intense, with a high level of game played by us. It also
happened on the second set, but we missed the last points
because of the lack of experience of our libero. We decreased
our level of game after that set and felt like we were in a hole
and could not get out of it.”
Julian Duarte, Player of Mexico: “We led the score at the end of
the first set, but after that they changed their setter. Once
they changed him, things became so complicated.”
Jesus Rangel, Player of Mexico: “We fought hard, that was our
goal to be always aggressive. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm and
momentum slowed down. Those are things of the game that we have
to solve on the court.”
Torey DeFalco, Player of USA: “We were playing a little
scrambled in the beginning. We played against a good team. We
were sure that they were going to come out and fight, but we
figured it out and played some good volleyball, so I am really
proud of my team. I love playing at the Pan Am Games, this has
been a whole new experience.”
Matthew West, Player of USA: “It was big time. We had not
played at this kind of environment before. Even though we had
one match we’ve still got the kind of feeling of butterflies
inside. But we figured it out and got together. We came out
after struggling that first set and closed with a win”. |
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