Puerto Rico used powetful serves to beat United States

LIMA, Peru, May 5, 2019 - Puerto Rico surprised and defeated the United States 3-1 (27-25, 27-25, 21-25, 25-20) in the first match of Pool A of the U21 Men's Volleyball Pan-American Cup on Sunday afternoon.

The score of the game was very tight from start to finish, both teams pressed from the serving area but Puerto Rico maintained greater concentration in their plays and took advantage of the unforced errors of the rival to close with the win.

Pedro Molina led the Puerto Rican attack with 21 points, and was accompanied on the offensive by Johan Leon with 14 points. For the United States, Brett Wildman, Ryan Wilcox and Anthony Matheney led with 19, 13 and 13 units respectively.

 The winners committed 36 unforced errors, compared to 45 on the losing side. Puerto Rico won with an advantage in service (9-7), but the United States were superior in attack (39-41) and blocking (7-11).

Johan Leon, Puerto Rico's leading attacker: We know that the United States is a very competitive opponent, that's why we played with a lot of attitude from the first set. In the third set we had a bit of anxiety and fatigue from the first two, but we took back our concentration and energy to stay with the victory.

Devin Joslyn, captain of the United States: I think we did not know how to handle the anxiety of the first game, we were close but we did not know how to close the sets. We knew that each team would come out to fight, but we must work on our concentration because the small details can make a big difference.