With 33 pts. Petra Schwartzman carries Chile into Semifinal at Xalapa

XALAPA, México, 6 de septiembre de 2024.- With impressive 33 points, opposite hitter Petra Schwartzman carried Chile into the Women’s U23 Pan American Cup semifinals beating Peru 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19) on Friday at the International Velodrome in Xalapa, Veracruz.

On Saturday at 6:00pm, Chile will face the defending champions, the Dominican Republic, in the semifinals, followed by the other semifinal, between Mexico and Cuba. Peru will compete against Suriname in the classification match for positions 5 to 8 at 4:00pm.

Chile dominated in attacks (59-46), blocks (11-5), and serves (7-5), but conceded more points from errors (27-19).

Petra’s 33 points included 27 attacks, 3 blocks, and 3 serves. Outside hitter Dominga Aylwin and middle blocker María Nielsen contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Opposite hitter Jeissy Chia led Peru with 12 points, followed by outside hitter Xina Cortéz with 11 points.

The first set was very close, with the teams tied and taking turns in the lead. Peru pulled ahead at point 20, scoring five consecutive points with a block by Elizabeth Braithwaite and four Chilean errors. Chile gained a significant eight-point lead and controlled the second set, with Petra Schwartzman's attacks and capitalizing on Peru's errors. Chile led 13-9 in the third set, with Petra joined by Dominga Aylwin. Despite the teams engaging in long rallies, Peru's efforts from Xina Cortéz, along with Katherine Pauro and Saskya Silvano, were not enough. Chile completely dominated the fourth set, maintaining a good rhythm, taking advantage of Peru's errors, and relying on the offense of Petra and Francisca Vásquez.

Eduardo Guillaume, Head coach of Chile: “We had total control in the last set. Peru is building a new team, and although our players already know each other, they haven't played together in a while, so both teams are finding their rhythm. At times, they dominated a set, then we did, and in the last set, we settled in well, and they ran out of options to rotate, playing a lot through zone four. We were able to prevail, and now we're in the semifinals, among the final four”.

Nieves Salas, Peru's Libero: “Our team lacked more defense. Chile played as a unit and was able to effectively capitalize on good balls to score”.