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Exciting action in penultimate stage of Mexican League

 

MONTERREY, Mexico, March 1, 2014 – Drama was the characteristic of the penultimate phase of the Mexican Volleyball League.

 

Cocoteros of Colima didn’t succeed in two matches as visitors to Chihuahua to face the Regional University but kept the second place of the standings in their quest for a place in the Final Four on March 7-8.

 

On Sunday, with the score one point in favor of the hosts and in one of the last actions of the match, one player of Cocoteros couldn’t receive the ball to set the play for a teammate.

 

At the end, the fifth set finished 15-13 for the Cowboys, winners of the match 3-2 in a men’s event of the National League.

 

It was the second duel decided dramatically during the weekend at Rodrigo M. Quevedo as on Saturday the Cowboys also prevailed against Cocoteros, with the tiebreaker concluding 15-11.

 

Despite the two failures, Cocoteros of Colima maintained the second position in the general ranking trailing the leaders UANL Tigers who were off this weekend. URN is in sixth place.

 

There was drama also at Juan de la Barrera Gym of the Federal District as D.F. Hawks lost 3-2 against UNAM Pumas with a close final set decided by score of 15-13.

 

The actions closed on Sunday this time with a victory for the Hawks in the men’s field, avenging the previous loss with a 3-1 over Pumas.

 

Martin Petris led the Hawks and all the scorers in the match with 19 points and Sergio Torres had 12 for UNAM. In another men’s match on Sunday, Cedrus Hidalgo beat Guerrero 3-0.

 

In the women’s event on Sunday, Marabuntas lost 3-1 to Cedrus Hidalgo at Pablo Colín Gymnasium of La Perla at Cuautiltán Izcalli, State of Mexico.

 

The penultimate phase of the Mexican Volleyball League left the Cowgirls of the Chihuahua Regional University virtually with a place in the Final Four to decide the national champions on March 7-8. They lead the circuit and only a catastrophe will had them out.

 

The crowd at Rodrigo M. Quevedo Gymnasium of Chihuahua during the weekend enjoyed a couple of victories of the Cowgirls over Cocoteras of Colima, 3-0 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday.

 

Talk about Cowgirls is to make reference to one of the teams with biggest winning tradition in Mexican volleyball. The URN, as they are known, won the national championship of First Force in 2013, and of Second Force from 2011 to 2013.

 

At the university level, the Cowgirls were national champions in 2002 and 2013 and were runner-ups in 2009 and 2012.

 

It is one of the most feared teams in the circuit. Gamaliel Ruiz Molina has been the coach of URN since 1996 and has been at the helm of the National Team in the tournaments of Cuba in 1996 and 1997, Puerto Rico 2002 and Monterrey 2006.

 

He was also the assistant coach of the U20 women’s team at Czech Republic in 2013.

 

He has in rosters a group of players who at times have been members of the National Team like Andrea Maldonado, Dina Rubio Vázquez, Gema León, Angélica Rangel and Claudia Macías. Arlín Ávila Martínez is also one of the outstanding members.