Fantastic Bronze Medal victory for Puerto Rico over Mexico at CACG

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 25, 2018.- Puerto Rico won the bronze medal to Mexico in fantastic five sets 3-2 (26-24, 15-25, 25-19, 27-29, 15-12) at the women’s volleyball tournament of 2018 Barranquilla the XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games at Humberto Perea Colliseum.

Puerto Rico won their second bronze medal in the history of the Games, in a thriller that showed powerful spikes and towering blocks. Puerto Rico finishes with 4-2 win-loss record and Mexico with 3-3.

The match was a nail bitter from the start, as Mexico recovered from a seven point deficit (8-15), but Puerto Rico’s blockers stopped their offense. The fourth set was neck to neck with Mexico extending the match to a tie-break dominated by Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico registered advantage in spikes (56-53) and service points (4-3), while Mexico the blocking category (15-10). Both teams allowed 38 points on errors.

Shirley Ferrer led Puerto Rico’s offense with 18 points, 16 on kills and 2 aces; Noami Santos contributed with 16 points and Daly Santana with 15.  Mexico balanced their attacks between Samantha Bricio with a match-high of 19 points, Melanie Parra and Andrea Rangel with 16 points apiece and Jocelyn Urías added 10 points.

Puerto Rican Daly Santana expressed “it feels really good to win after searching for our rhythm the entire tournament. It was a very hard duel, that’s the way volleyball goes, you play with everything you got until you have no energy left. This is a young squad and earning this result at such a young age only promises a good future for Puerto Rico’s volleyball, there is space for improvement. We felt the warmth (literally, showing her sweat) from the Colombian spectators”.

A very emotional Javier Gaspar, coach of Puerto Rico said “as we say in Puerto Rico: not for cardiac problems. Both teams gave their body and soul, it was a great spectacle for all the fans, a high level of volleyball and I am very proud of my players”.