Puerto Rico earns bronze medal in thrilling victory

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 19, 2014 – Puerto Rico captured the bronze medal of the XIII Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup following a thrilling five-set (24-26, 25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 16-14) victory over Argentina at Juan de la Barrera Gymnasium of Mexico City on Thursday.

In the exciting battle, both teams scored via 17 blocks but Puerto Rico held a huge margin in attacks 71-54.

Aury Cruz led the winners with a tournament-high 30 points while four other Puerto Ricans finished with double figures. Alexandra Oquendo contributed 17, including five blocks, Vanessa Velez and Lynda Morales each registered 14 tallies and Sheila Ocasio chipped in with five blocks among her 12 points.

Josefina Fernandez and Emilce Sosa finished with 17 and 16 points, respectively, as the top offensive players of Argentina. Florencia Busquets added 12, including five blocks, and Elina Rodriguez had 11 in the losing effort.

José Mieles, Coach of Puerto Rico: “We accomplished our two goals, the first one qualifying to the Grand Prix and to get one medal. I am very happy because the girls never quit and this is the fruit of a big dedication from all the players, since we don’t have four of our players.”

Sheila Ocasio, Captain of Puerto Rico: “I am so happy because we did the impossible despite not having depth at the bench, but the girls who came here and everyone was focused on getting this medal.”

Guillermo Orduna, Coach of Argentina: “It was a very irregular match and the one who made fewer errors won it. We didn’t have the performance we expected despite we left everything we had on the court to modify the situation and that’s encouraging. We didn’t play up to our level during the tournament.”

Yamila Nizetich, Captain of Argentina: “Puerto Rico played more as a team and some key attackers didn’t do the job. It is not an alibi but that was a factor. Our opponents played good tactically and hurt us with their serves and they have one player like Aury Cruz, who responds in the clutch.”