Puerto Rico finishes in fifth place

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, October 20, 2011 – Puerto Rico defeated Peru in straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-19) in the match for fifth place of the women’s volleyball tournament at the XVI Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011.

Sarai Alvarez and Aury Cruz were the most outstanding scorers for Puerto Rico with 18 and 14 points respectively with Cruz recording three aces. Peru’s Carla Rueda registered 14 points while Claivett Yllescas and Patricia Soto charted 11 and 10.

David Aleman (Coach of Puerto Rico): “We are very happy. In today’s victory, Puerto Rico has worked with a lot of intensity during the last months. We had a negative start, but we went improving. That was one of our goals. It was positive as we have a new team with young players who responded at the right time.”

Luca Cristofani (Coach of Peru): “After we gave up the first set and could not go forward, we decided to give a chance to our youngsters, to make sense of this match. Our average age at the end was 21 years, and I am satisfied with the work they did.”

Vilmarie Mojica (Captain of Puerto Rico): “We finished fifth in Pan Am Games. It was something we’d never done before. We had further goals, but we improved our performance in comparison with the previous time when we finished sixth. We dedicate this victory in memory of the father of Michelle (Nogueras).”

Patricia Soto (Captain of Peru): “For Peru has been very difficult to find the way to defeat Puerto Rico. We didn’t have our head on the match today.”