Tag: 2022 U19 Boys Pan Am Cup

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 28, 2022.- The United States won the championship match of the fourth edition of the Boys U19 Pan Am Cup beating Mexico 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-18) on Saturday in Guatemala City.

This is the U.S. first gold medal in the history of the event; they won a bronze medal over Mexico in the first edition of 2011. For Mexico this is their second consecutive silver medal, in the past edition of 2019 they fell to Cuba and they also have a gold medal winning the championship to Chile in 2017.

The United States finished the Pan Am Cup with 5-0 win-loss record and Mexico with 4-2.

In the first set, the United States had to work hard to catch up from a four point deficit almost the entire set up to 18 all and going forward for the gold medal sweep.

The American team held a huge 39-18 advantage in kills, a 9-7 margin in blocks and a comfortable 5-2 margin in serves. Mexico committed fewer errors than the United States (22-31).

Outside hitter and captain Sean Kelly led the United States with 15 points on 14 kills and one block, joined by outside hitter Sterling Foley with 14 points on 8 kills, a match-high of 5 blocks and one ace, and opposite hitter Finn Kearney with 13 points on 9 kills, one block and a match-high of 3 aces.

Mexico’s leading scorer was outside hitter Ines Antonio Vargas with 8 points.

Charles Sullivan, Head Coach United States: “I am so proud our boys came so far, they were unselfish, they gave to the team first and for young men to do that I think they grew exponentially. Thank you to Norceca, Guatemalan Volleyball Federation, we felt so warm here”.

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 28, 2022.- Puerto Rico won the bronze medal of the fourth edition of the U19 Pan American Cup over Chile 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday at Guatemala’s City Dome.

This Puerto Rico’s second bronze medal, their first was in 2017 beating Colombia; they also have a silver medal from the first edition of the event in 2011 falling to Brazil in the championship match.

Puerto Rico, who qualified to the FIVB World Championship early winning their pool in the preliminary round, concludes with a 4-1 record and finishes third and Chile finishes fourth with 2-4.

Puerto Rico dominated Chile from start to finish by an overwhelming 42-27 attacking advantage, a 9-4 blocking margin and superiority in serves by a 5-2 margin. Chile committed fewer unforced errors than Puerto Rico (19-22).

Three outside hitters from Puerto Rico scored double-figures, led by Sebastian Sanchez (17), Victor Torres (14) and Diego Lopez (12). Outside hitter Ian Gei was Chile’s top scorer with 12 points.

Francisco Negron, Head Coach Puerto Rico: “This was their best performance, I am really glad with their performance and we’re going off with a medal”.

Ramón Rosado, Captain Puerto Rico: “The team had unity, after battling strong yesterday, coming under 0-2 and not winning in the fifth set, we were really hungry today, we weren’t going back home without a medal”.