Argentina and the United States for the gold medal

LIMA, Peru, July 29, 2019 - Argentina with Ana Gallay/Fernanda Pereira, will defend the Pan American women's beach volleyball title by advancing to the end of the XVIII Lima Games 2019 where they will face Karissa Cook and Jace Pardon, from States United.

Gallay/Pereira beat Maylen Deliz and Leila Martínez of Cuba 2-0 (21-19, 24-22), while Cook/Pardon beat 2-0 (24-22, 21-16) Angela Lavalle/Carolina Horta, from Brazil.

Gallay, gold medalist in Toronto 2015, showed a great defense, as well as a serve that put Cubans in trouble, which despite erasing a six point deficit in the first set (6-12), could not find the way to close.

Argentina started leading 4-0 and improved to 12-6, advantage they lost after six consecutive points of Cuba... the parity remained until 19, with Cuba sending the ball out of bounds at the last point.

In the second set, equality remained until 19 points, with Gallay showing off his defense, and a failed serve from Cuba allowed them to take the lead and liquidate the match with a Pereira´s attack.

Meanwhile, Cook/Pardon, from the United States, traced a 12-18 drawback in the first set to tie it to 18 and maintain equality until the close when his service made a difference. In the second set, they arrived with a 17-12 advantage, thanks to four services followed by Cook and Brazil did not have a better chance in the second round.

COMMENTS

Ana Gallay: “We are dying of the feeling we have, the best feeling we can have. The key was the serve, there was pressure from both sides, we knew that some time they were going to fail and they gave us that little gift, so I can only say that I am happy. A year and a half ago, I thought the sport was over, but I found a crazy guy like me and here we are. ”

Fernanda Pereira: “Cuba played well, they moved well in block-defense, it was hard for us to look where they were standing, then we began to receive a little better, further on, we sharpened the assembly and we could see them better. The finals are played and won by giving everything one hundred percent, each ball is a final. ”

Karissa Cook: “At the beginning we started very low, we were very patient, I was a little nervous, but we managed to understand our game. Brazil played very hard, the strong serve and it was difficult to defend, so we had to concentrate.

Jace Pardon: "Our service was very good and the defense we managed to keep always safe helped us."

Results

Semifinal: ARG def CUB 2-0 (21-19, 24-22); USA def BRA 2-0 (24-22, 21-16). Place 5-8: CHI def CRC 2-0 (21-10, 21-9); COL def PAR 2-0 (21-19, 21-16). Place 9-10: CAN def PER 2-0.