Mexico qualifies to FIVB WCH winning U18 Pan Am Bronze

DURANGO, Mexico, May 26, 2019.- Mexico qualified to FIVB age-group World Championship winning the Girls’ U18 Pan American Bronze medal match to Chile 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 25-21, 25-15) at Auditorio del Pueblo of Durango, Mexico.

Mexico qualifies to its third consecutive FIVB World Championship, winning their second Pan Am medal, they won silver in 2011.

Mexico won the first set with calculated moves, remaining focused and keeping Chile under control with Marian Ovalle and Melanie Parra leading the pack. Chile evened the score trailing on a four-point deficit (16-20) to win the set not before losing two set points to Melanie Parra. Chile’s scorers were patient coming from behind (11-16) thru middle blockers Elisa Sandrock and Constanza Silva along with Maria Jesus on the side; but Mexico bounced back 2-1 moving into set four with spectacular 13-5 lead on a combination of attacks and Chilean errors.

The home girls held advantage 65-45 in spikes, 9-6 in blocks, a slim 5-4 in aces and scored on 22 opponent errors and committing 29 of their own.

Melanie Parra once again led Mexico on a match-high of 26 points on 23 kills and 3 blocks, opposite player Marian Ovalle joined in with 20 points including 18 kills and middle blocker Sofia Maldonado alongside Grecia Ung contributed with 10 points each. Maria Jesus Muñoz topped Chile with 14 points on 13 kills and one ace, followed by middle blocker Elisa Sandrock also with 14 points, outside hitter Ignacia Badilla added 12 points and middle blocker Constanza Silva tallied 10 points.

“We were really nervous, we wanted to win so hard and thank God we qualified to the World Championship” said Mexican captain Melanie Parra. She added that the team wasn’t that strong “Chile is a difficult team, they could have won and we wouldn’t have reached our objective”.

Ricardo Ponce, Mexico’s coach said “this is a team effort, the whole team worked, everyone chipped in and the bench players were an important factor in today’s result. Before preparing for the World Championship, there are some competitions to go: 90% of the team plays the national championship, we have our national Olympics, then the U20 World Championship here in Mexico; all of this will help us to scout new players who may be included to improve our team and go to Egypt in better conditions”