Mexico comes from behind to grab first victory

GUANAJUATO, Mexico, September 5, 2016 – Mexico came from behind to grab its first victory at the III Men’s U23 Pan American Cup after defeating Guatemala 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18).

Bruno Cruz and Jose Rubio scored 15 points apiece for Mexico, while Ariel Acosta finished with 13. Guatemala had four double digit players, after Carlos Lopez and Erik Flores tallied 13 each and Wagner Chacon and Leonel Aragón closed with 12 apiece.

“We must be focused on qualifying to the world championship in Egypt. That is our first goal. We made adjustments today and worked with our complex 1. We worked hard to get from behind. Now we have to be ready for our next rival, Colombia, that did not play today but we will observe them in their first match tomorrow,” Luis Leon, the coach of Mexico stated.

“It was a very tough start. They played very well, but we had to concentrate and get the best of our game to open with a win. Our goal is to get the ticket to the World Championship and think about our match against Colombia,” said Mexican captain Christian Aranda.

“We began playing well. We won that first set and fought hard. We have come here to improve and to continue growing in this kind of tournaments,” remarked Reider Lucas coach of Guatemala.