Chile defeats Peru for fifth place

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 4, 2013.-Chiletook the fifth place at the U-18 Girls Pan American Cupafter their historic victory over Peru by 3-20 (16-25, 25-14, 17-25, 25-16, 16-14).

Both teams showed resistance and were equally aggressive as their statistics reveal a small margin of difference. Peru did better in blocking by 10-9 and in aces by 7-5.Chile had never beaten Peru before.

Once again, Catalina Melo scored a match-high with 28 pointsfor Chile. ArnaoUrrutia scored 20 points for Peru.

“Peru played strong and pushed us to the edge, I’m glad the victory was for Chile as well as the fifth place, improving the sixth place at the last edition of the U-18 Pan Am Cup” said Catalina Melo.

Cristina Cuba for Peru indicated “we didn’t want to win, we lacked character, but the objective to gain more experience playing was reached.”

Hugo Jauregui admitted that Peru has contributed with Chile’s improvement for the past four years, “we’ve been training and playing in Peru as part of our preparation and the results talk for themselves. As the scores show no one was superior, the match was more emotional than tactical”. He also praised the organization and leaves with a positive come out.

“Chile has improved thanks to their coaching” said Enrique Briceño, coach of Peru. “Our inexperience and anxiousness betrayed us, but this is part of a process and the girls are still young to continue improving”.