Category: Volleyball

LA PAZ, Baja California, June 8, 2022.- Argentina beat Costa Rica 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-11) to claim their second win at the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup being held at La Paz Arena in Baja California Sur.

With 2-0 record and 10 points in pool C, Argentina is guaranteed at least second place resuming pool-play against the United States. Costa Rica has 0-2 record and will face Canada.

Argentina held advantage over Costa Rica with overwhelming margins, 24-15 in attacks, 11-2 in aces and 9-3 in blocks, and committing fewer errors (15-21).

Opposite hitter Constanza Perez led Argentina scoring 11 points on 7 kills and 3 aces, outside hitter Milena Margaria and middle blocker Josefina Ossvald tallied 8 points apiece.

From Costa Rica, opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez scored 9 points all on kills.

Juana Giardini, Setter of Argentina: “We always battled and gave our all, it was a nice match, we had fun and the result is very important for our objective. The game was smooth, we put pressure with our serves, and we looked to score every possible point in attacks, but never forgetting our defense”.

Marcelo Silva, Head Coach of Argentina: “I was able to play with everyone because we need to be prepared for tomorrow and play our best against the United States that has a higher level than the two opponents we’ve faced here”.

Angélica Rodríguez, Top Scorer of Costa Rica: “We weren’t afraid of Argentina, we were standing well on the court, we gave a good performance. Today our attitude improved, and we closed our blocking, following our coaches’ instructions”.

Henry Rodríguez, Head Coach of Costa Rica: “Today our performance was good for a young team, this is the base of our U18 team, comparing to yesterday’s performance against a tough opponent, with good tactics and who I consider to be one of the finalists of the tournament (United States). The team was settled on the court, they received more and we scored good points over Argentina that has better height”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 8, 2022.- Cuba started the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup defeating Puerto Rico 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 29-27, 25-22) on day two of competition at La Paz Arena in Baja California Sur.

Cuba came from losing the first set in their first outing in pool A pulling off their first victory of the event that qualifies two NORCECA teams to the 2023 FIVB World Championship. In the second set, Puerto Rico kept the pressure as Cuba failed three-set points (24-20) and then another three before the close 29-27 finish for Cuba.

Puerto Rico concludes pool-play with 1-1 record and 4 points and waits for their final position to learn if they advance into the next round.

The final stats of the match show the close win for Cuba who led 48-46 in attacks, 14-11 in blocks and 12-11 in serves. Cuba committed 21 unforced errors and Puerto Rico with 25.

Cuban middle blocker Lisania Grafort scored a match-high of 24 points, including the most aces with 7 points, 13 kills and 4 blocks. Her teammates outside hitter Claudia Tarin and opposite hitter Yalain De La Peña contributed with 15 and 14 points respectively.

Three outside hitters led Puerto Rico’s offense, Grace Lopez with 18 points, Valeria Flores with 13 points and Elena García with 12 points.

Pool A resumes on Thursday with Cuba (1-0) facing Dominican Republic (0-1).

Lisania Grafort, Top Scorer of Cuba: “Our combativity helped us prevail over Puerto Rico, everyone did their part, they fulfilled their role on and off the court. Personally, I trust my team and myself to get good results”.

Rogelio Andrés Goytizolo, Head Coach of Cuba: “We faced a settled team on the court that didn’t hand out balls. My team is hungry despite their lack of experience, we are out of the ice of not competing internationally. Our middle, Grafort, was effective in serving and punished Puerto Rico over the net”.

Valeria Flores, Captain of Puerto Rico: “We’ve had two tough matches, today we weren’t as organized as yesterday in blocking; not all matches are the same and we are moving forward”.

José Rivera, Head Coach of Puerto Rico: “Cuba’s presence and strength was crucial, they served well, and we are suffering the consequences from yesterday’s five sets, some players are physically hurt. We battled up to the end and Cuba won by their own merit”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 7, 2022.- Mexico claimed their first victory in pool B in the opening day of the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup over Honduras 3-0 (25-7, 25-18, 25-6) at La Paz Arena in Baja California Sur.

Hosts Mexico had a solid performance in the first and third set in their first outing at the qualifier event to the FIVB World Championship subduing Honduras with a huge 45-16 advantage in attacks and 14-3 in serves. Mexico also led by a slim 3-2 margin in blocks and committed fewer errors (10-13) than Honduras.

Outside hitter and team captain Aime Topete scored 18 points in Mexico’s victory, on 13 kills, one block and 4 aces, while outside hitter Katherine Ramirez contributed with 10 points all on kills and Grecia Ung followed with 9 points all on kills.

Opposite hitter Dazly Duran and outside hitter Andrea Aceituno scored 5 points apiece for Honduras.

On the second day of competition in pool B, Mexico (1-0) plays against Chile and Honduras (0-1) has a rest day.

Luis Alberto Leon, Head Coach of Mexico: “I am satisfied with the scores of the first and third sets, as well as the result. We committed too many errors in the second set due to lack of concentration and they made us a lot of points that I hope won’t affect the groups’ result”.

Marvin Mora, Head Coach of Honduras: “We had a good second set because the players took risks and believed in themselves. I always tell my team that we have the right to fail, but not the right to not try. We had a bad last set. Due to our last-minute changes in our line-up, I think it wasn’t that bad, we had some highlights. We will adjust and this is an excellent preparation for the Central American Championship next month”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 7, 2022.- The United States overpowered Costa Rica 3-0 (25-8, 25-4, 25-8) in their debut at the sixth edition of the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup at the Arena La Paz in Baja California Sur.

The U.S. team grabbed their first win in pool C of the event that grants two tickets to the 2023 FIVB World Championship using all their players in a match short of one minute of an hour.

The Americans’ serves were too much for Costa Rica, ending with an impressive 14-0 margin in aces; they also were superior in attacks (39-10) and blocks (7-0), and scored 75 points on opponent errors against 20.

Outside hitter Chole Chicoine led the United States with 13 points on 10 kills and 3 aces; opposite hitter Merritt Beason and outside hitter Raven Covin contributed with 8 and 6 points respectively.

Opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez scored 5 points for Costa Rica as their leading scorer.

On day two of the event, the United States (1-0) will face Canada (0-1) and Costa Rica (0-1) meets Argentina (1-0).

Daniel Fisher, Head Coach of United States: “We kept our service pressure strong the whole match. It was a good opportunity for us to play a lot of players, we are a new team together, the hitter and setters are still learning from each other, we’ve only trained for a week, so it was a nice beginning for us”.

Nicole Mata, Captain of Costa Rica: “This our first tournament together, our first match and it was against a strong opponent. Many of the players shook off their nerves and anxiousness of the first match. We are not done yet; we have two more pool matches and we are turning the page”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 7, 2022.- Argentina had a strong beginning at the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup defeating Canada 3-0 (25-17, 25-8, 25-22) at La Paz Arena in Baja California Sur.

Argentina started off their pool C campaign with no difficulties and showed a solid performance overpowering Canada.

Argentina led 36-22 in attacks, 7-2 in blocks and finished with an overwhelming 12-4 margin in serves. Canada committed one less error than Argentina (19-20).

Opposite hitter Valentina Vaulet led Argentina with 16 points on 12 kills and 4 aces, followed by outside hitter Milena Margaria with 13 points on 8 kills, one block and 4 aces.

On Canada’s side, middle blocker Jenna Pollock scored 7 points.

On Wednesday in pool C, Canada faces the United States and Argentina goes up against Costa Rica.

Victoria Caballero, Capitana de Argentina: “We were focused on what was needed, serving well, receiving well, and defending well. We are a short team, we focused on defending and receiving which is our strength.”

Marcelo Silva, Head Coach of Argentina: “We played in the world championship last year, but we are coming out of the Pandemic where our training had to be creative. I am glad for my teams’ superior performance, they were concentrated during the three sets, they controlled the ball and knew where to direct their serves. They were more concentrated than Canada in every action of the game who could not take advantage of their height in attack”.

Emoni Bush, Captain of Canada: “We had a little bit of nerves starting out, but we brought it together in the first set; we finished the game a lot stronger than we started. We need to limit our errors; we are a strong team with strong hitters”.

Carolyn O’Dwyer, Head Caoch of Canada: “We started off nervous causing us to play a little tentative and it took us a while to get out of it to play a little more aggressive style which is how we play. Argentina did a great job and a lot was on our side”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 7, 2022 – A new record for the highest scoring match was the result of the traditional duel between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic to start the U21 Women’s Junior Pan American Cup at Arena La Paz on Tuesday.

The five-set battle won by Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-23, 27-29, 25-22, 24-26, 16-14) totaled 231 points erasing the previous mark of 216 set on May 14, 2019 when Puerto Rico defeated Chile 3-2 (26-24, 19-25, 27-25, 17-25, 15-13).

Roosevelt Comarazamy, NORCECA Press Officer, made the announcement from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the site of the organization’s headquarters.

LA PAZ, Baja California, June 7, 2022.- Puerto Rico edged Dominican Republic in five thrilling sets 3-2 (25-23, 27-29, 25-22, 24-26, 16-14) at the inaugural match of the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup at Arena La Paz in Baja California Sur.

Puerto Rico won their first match in pool A of the qualifying event to the 2023 FIVB World Championship against a tough Dominican squad that led by a slim margin in every skill, with 55-54 in attacks, 17-16 in blocks and 7-5 in serves, while benefiting from 42 opponent errors and allowing 35.

Outside hitter Grace Mar López scored a match-high of 27 points leading Puerto Rico’s scorers; on 23 kills, 3 blocks and one ace. Opposite hitter Paola Martell followed with 11 points on 9 kills, one blocks, and one ace, and middle blocker Marcelle Baez also added 11 points on 5 kills, 5 blocks and one ace.

Middle blocker Florangel Terrero led Dominican Republic scoring 21 points on 18 kills, 2 blocks and one ace; setter Ariana Rodriguez contributed with 17 points on 11 kills and 6 blocks, and setter Sophia Reynolds chipped in with 10 points all on kills.

On the second day of competition in pool A, Dominican Republic has the day off and Puerto Rico plays against Cuba.

José Rivera, Head Coach Puerto Rico: “The game was intense, against a strong opponent. I am happy for my players for starting a tournament winning, which is positive. Our serving was effective, and our blocks executed well, allowing us to get the Dominican Republic off their offensive system of play”.

Cristian Cruz, Head Coach Dominican Republic: “We had too many ups and downs, we couldn’t develop our offense with our outside hitters, and we had to base our performance on our middles, compromising our passing. Our physical condition was bellow from what we are used to. Tomorrow we rest and we will try to improve during practice to face Cuba on Thursday”.

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 6, 2022.- The sixth edition of the U21 Women’s Pan American Cup that kicks off on Tuesday in La Paz will grant two tickets for the 2023 age-group FIVB World Championship.

With ten competing teams, the two vacancies available at the qualifying tournament for the  FIVB World Championship will automatically qualify two teams from the NORCECA Confederation and not of the South American Volleyball Confederations as only Argentina and Chile are taking part of the competition.

Marcelo Silva, Head Coach Argentina: “We’ve been preparing since April, our main goal here is to prepare for the South American qualifier to the World Championship in August. We are glad to be here, it’s a great opportunity to measure ourselves against interesting opponents; and I’ll evaluate my team”.

Carolyn O’Dwyer, Head Coach Canada: “We had a larger group training in Canada for ten days leading up, so we had a little bit of a longer period than we had in the past which was nice. I think with the change of the age-group we were able to bring some older athletes, giving us some more experience and our expectations are definitely high of what we can do this week, we hope to make Canada proud”.

Eduardo Guillaume, Head Coach Chile: “Getting back to compete is positive, in three years with this team we’ve only played five matches; we are really excited of being here, to have played several friendly matches against Mexico and on the eve of the competition. I’ve been working with this group of players for a long time, we have high expectations from them. They were born in 2004-2005. It will be a tough tournament because of the level of play, we want to qualify among the final four”.

Henry Rodríguez, Head Coach Costa Rica: “It’ll be interesting facing highly competitive teams. Our team is a U18 renovated squad, Central American champions, eight from that team and some others are U16. Our expectations are to improve, have good results and reach our U21 Central American Championship in July in good conditions to win the title”.

Rogelio Andrés Goytizolo, Head Coach Cuba: “As all the teams here, we are aiming for a good competition; our goal is to play the title match. We don’t know anything about our rivals, but our team has young athletes who desire a good outcome”.

Cristian Cruz, Head Coach Dominican Republic: “We had a good base camp, almost eight months working with this new group. This team participated at the U18 World Championship by ranking due to the Pandemic. We share a group with Puerto Rico and Cuba; we know that four players from Puerto Rico competed in Worlds and about Cuba we have no information. We are confident to be playing for medals”.

Marvin Ulloa, Head Coach Honduras: “We just had access to our gymnasium in March. Half of the team was U19 and U20 Central American Champions and competed in last year’s senior Central American Championship. We are suffering the absence of two key players: Nathaly Pérez who is studying in the United States and our team captain Gabriela Gomez who has health issues. We made some internal adjustments, and we hope they understand each other well”.

Luis Alberto León, Head Coach Mexico: “The team is glad, motivated and anxious to begin to compete here in Mexico. This is a strong competition, eight teams from NORCECA fighting for two berths for the World Championship and our objective is one of those tickets”.

José Rivera, Head Coach Puerto Rico: “We renovated our squad for this event, this is the first international experience for 80% of the group and they have a better height, something we identified in the past world championship. The team is healthy and with good energy, excited to compete”.

Daniel Fisher, Head Coach United States: “We had a wonderful preparation, we were able to be with our senior team in Louisiana for the VNL, it was a nice opportunity to train in the morning and watch the matches at night and learn from them. We started seven days of training with 20 players and now we’re here with 12, we feel we have a strong team and excited to be here, we hope for the best”.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 5, 2022 – The U-21 women’s national volleyball team of Dominican Republic that will participate in the Pan American Cup to be held in the city of La Paz in Baja California Sur from June 7 with representatives from 10 countries left for Mexico. 

The members of the Dominican team met at Las Américas Airport in Santo Domingo with the Dominican Republic´s Ambassador to Mexico, Her Excellency María Isabel Castillo who took the opportunity to pose for photos with the girls and made the trip to Mexico in the same flight.

The Dominicans travelled accompanied by Mr. Ramón A. García, president of the Dominican Volleyball Federation (FEDOVOLI). 

The Dominicans will play in Group A alongside defending champions Cuba and Puerto Rico. 

In the previous five editions of the biannual event, a different champion has emerged. The winning teams have been those from Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United States and Cuba. 

LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 3, 2022 – Teams from 10 countries will be competing in the U-21 Women’s Pan American Cup whose game schedule runs from June 7 to 12.

In Pool A will lay the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico while Pool B also with three teams includes Mexico, Chile and Honduras. The four teams in Pool C are:  Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica and the United States.

The top two Pool winners will advance to the Semifinals while the Pool winner with the third record will join the three Second Place finishers in the Quarterfinals.

This is the sixth edition of the event that until this year brought together players of the Under-20 age. Cuba won the previous edition held in Lima, Peru.

Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the United States were the winners of the first four editions that began in 2011.

The competition schedule for the preliminary round is as follows:

June 7

14:00 Dominican Republic v Puerto Rico

16:00 Argentina v Canada

18:00 United States v Costa Rica

20:00 Mexico v Honduras

June 8

14:00 Cuba v Puerto Rico

16:00 Argentina v Costa Rica

18:00 United States v Canada

20:00 Mexico v Chile

June 9

14:00 Costa Rica v Canada

16:00 Dominican Republic v Cuba

18:00 Chile v Honduras

20:00 Argentina v United States