Puerto Rico claims first victory at U-18 Cup

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 5, 2011 - Puerto Rico won its first match in the Girls’ U-18 Pan Am Cup, after defeating El Salvador 3-0 (25-10, 25-5, 25-18).

Kanisha Jimenez and Gabriela Varela scored 12 and 11 points for Puerto Rico, while Maria Jose Galeano converted 8.

“This victory really helped us to find ourselves, and we played very well,” stated Jizzyan Gesualdo, Puerto Rico’s captain, while her coach Eric Gonzalez emphasized the importance of improving reception and attack.

El Salvador’s best moment came on the third set. “I saw them playing better, we began with some fouls but in the end the girls improved a lot,” Coach Sady Lopez said.

For Andrea Manzur, that last set was the best they’ve played during the tournament despite the loss. “We had some good rallyes but lost our concentration”, she said.

Puerto Rico finished third in Pool A, and will wait for the second place of Pool B for the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, El Salvador will take on one of the losers of quarterfinals to play the classification rounds from 5th to 8th places of the competition.