Uruguay make terrific comeback to stop Guatemala

HAVANA, Cuba, March 30, 2017–Uruguay got to come from behind to surprise Guatemala in tie-breaker 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 15-6) to secure the third place in Pool C at the IV Pan American U-18 Girls’ Cup taking place at the Sports City Coliseum.

 Opposite player, Sofia Zuvich (14), the wing spiker Melissa Paez (12) and middle blocker, Meline Giménez (11) were the top-scorers for the winning side. For  the Central Americans, middle blocker Daniela Tornoe and opposite player, Kimberly Cardona contributed 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Luis Baladon, coach of Uruguay: “At the beginning, my team played more nervously than technically. After the two first lost sets, we adjusted more the block with taller players, forgot a little about the “jogo bonito” and also could dominate a more effective service which stopped the strong opposing attack.” 

Edgar Callejas, coach of Guatemala: “We played two good sets, but the rivals reacted and defeated us reversing a match we could have won. The lack of friendly matches caused confusion. Nevertheless my team looked well.”

Melissa Paez, a 14-year-old player of Uruguay: “With the Charrúa fighting spirit we were able to come from behind to win this match. Today we realize it was worthy a sacrifice of having been training throughout the year which helped us to display this endurance.”

Carmen Gómez, captain of Guatemala: “We could not close the match. We have a better team, but we made many errors. We were not able to define the attack and we should have put pressure with the service.”