TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 15, 2024. – Puerto Rico earned its first victory in the Girls’ U19 NORCECA U-19 Continental Championship after defeating Cuba 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-10) on Monday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Puerto Rico improved its record to 1-1 in pool A, while Cuba remains winless at 0-2.
Puerto Rico (1-1) will conclude pool-play on Tuesday against the United States at 4:00 pm, and Cuba (0-2) will face Canada at 6:00 pm.
The Puerto Ricans capitalized their victory with a huge advantage of 35 to 17 in attacks, 10 to 5 in blocks, and 12 to 2 in service aces.
Outside hitter Pamela Agosto of Puerto Rico was the top scorer of the match with 16 points (14 kills, 2 blocks). Middle blocker Jomailee Reyes also contributed to the win with 13 points (5 kills, a match-high of 5 blocks, 3 aces). Team captain Alana Guibert added 10 points (7 kills, 2 blocks, one ace).
Salet Castillo of Cuba scored 8 points as the team’s top scorer.
The attacks of Alana Guibert and the serves of Jomailee Reyes pushed Puerto Rico to recover from a four-point deficit (0-4) in the first set. The Puerto Ricans advanced with better control of their serves, gaining a comfortable lead. In the second set, Puerto Rico quickly jumped to a five-point lead (15-10), maintaining it throughout the set. Puerto Rico was dominant in the third set.
Pamela Agosto, top scorer for Puerto Rico: “We were a bit nervous; it’s the second international match for almost everyone on the team. We managed to improve, limit our errors, and did a great job. I think our serving was very good, but the key to our victory was our communication. We know we can advance to the quarterfinals”.
Ashley Simón, setter for Cuba: “We started with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. When we try to do things right, we get nervous, and that causes us to make mistakes. I think there’s a lack of communication among us; there are arguments that hurt us as a team. We’ll see what happens tomorrow against Canada. We need more unity and to be a team”.
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