GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 28, 2024.- Peru defeated Cuba 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-18, 25-17) to remain undefeated in the first Girls U17 Pan American Cup being held at the Mult-sports Dome in Guatemala City.
Peru has a 2-0 record in Pool A and will end the preliminary round against Mexico (1-1); Cuba, with a 0-2 record, will face Dominican Republic (1-1). The pool winner will advance directly to the semifinals.
Peruvian middle Camila Monge ended the match blocking Cuban Yesica Brito’s powerful kill.
Peru’s advantage in serves (11-2) was crucial for securing the victory. Peru also had a 9-3 advantage in blocks and committed fewer errors (20-34). Cuba led in attacks 50 to 40.
The top scorer of the match was Peru’s team captain, Ariana Vásquez, with 20 points on 14 attacks, one block, and a match-high of 5 aces. Outside hitters Gianella Chanca and Brenda Quiroz also contributed to win, Chanca scored 14 points on 13 attacks and one block, while Quiroz had 11 points on 9 attacks, one block, and one ace.
Opposite hitter Salet Castillo led Cuba with 19 points, all from kills, and Yesica Brito contributed 18 points, also all from kills.
Brazilian coach Antonio Rizola, recently hired to lead Peru, expressed great joy because his team has two wins in two matches, “the team is learning to have courage and to overcome difficult moments”. Reflecting on yesterday’s second set against the Dominican Republic, the team managed to recover, “it was a moment when the result could have been different, and today we lost a set to Cuba, but overcame to win the match”. Rizola added that he remains grounded “there is a lot to do to learn to play volleyball”.
Cuban captain Yesica Brito said her team looked much better today, “we improved from yesterday’s match to today, corrected our mistakes, but today we lacked spirit and in difficult moments, we couldn’t finish”. Brito also highlighted that the team supported each other on the court, “it’s a loss that hurts, but we played as a team”.
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