HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 24, 2022.- Puerto Rico won a vibrant five-setter 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 16-25, 25-17, 15-12) to Peru in their first tournament win in pool A of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup in Hermosillo.
The roller coaster victory put Puerto Rico in a hopeful position, with a 1-2 record needing to win their last pool match to Costa Rica and move into the quarterfinal round.
Peru concludes the preliminary round with a 1-3 win-loss record and could play for positions seven to ten depending on Puerto Rico’s result on Thursday.
Puerto Rico prevailed with 15-12 advantage in blocking and committing fewer errors (28-30) errors than Peru. Both teams scored 57 points from attacks and two points from serves.
Outside hitter and team captain Pilar Victoria led Puerto Rico on a match-high of 24 points from 22 attacks and two blocks. Also contributing in the Caribbeans victory was middle blocker Paola Rojas with 16 points on a match-high of 7 blocks and 9 kills, while opposite hitter Genesis Collazo added 11 points on 10 kills and one block.
Peru’s top scorer was opposite hitter Maria Paula Rodriguez with 21 points on 17 kills and 4 blocks, accompanied by outside hitter Karla Ortiz contributing with 16 points on 14 kills and 2 blocks, and by middle blocker Ginna Lopez adding 11 points on 8 kills and 3 blocks.
Pilar Victoria, captain of Puerto Rico: “It’s our first win, we are super excited because it was an important match that gives us the possibility to move forward in the tournament, in addition that we are working in getting into rhythm of play. We must continue to fight, obviously we must win tomorrow and finish third in our pool. In style we are much like Peru and our intention was to be aggressive all the time, we fought a lot in defense and with consistency in attacks”.
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