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HAVANA, Cuba, March 19, 2015 – The Dominican team had to battle
to beat Argentina 21-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, and 15-5 in the
third five-set match of the final day of the preliminary phase
of the III Girls’ U18 Pan Am Volleyball Cup at the Coliseum of
the Sports City.
Although the Dominicans only needed to win one single set to
secure the first position in the Pool A, they overcame their
opposition presented by their rivals from the very beginning to
finish undefeated and move directly to the semi-finals next
Saturday.
The top scorer, of this exciting clash which lasted two hours
and nine minutes, was Natalia Martínez (25), followed by her
team-mates Massiel Matos (20), Lisbeth Rosario (14) and Vielka
Peralta (13); Argentina’s Anahí Tosi (23) and María Corbalán
(21) tallied double digits.
It was a difficult game, my girls were a little unfocused while
the Argentineans played well which they did not do against Peru
when they lost. So, they are a good team. They control the ball
very well and mine were a little overconfident”, stated the
Brazilian, Alexandre Ceccato, coach of the Caribbean team.
Their captain, Yokaty Pérez, also considered that they entered
the court without being really focused. “It was unbelievable,
like never before and when we got the rhythm we lost it again.
It was uncomfortable as Argentina is a team which controls the
ball well. They do not make errors and, if failed, they try to
find a solution in the court.”
The South American coach said that “we have just started to play
this year at this international event and today we met an
opponent who is among the top in the world. So we are at the
height of the circumstances. Without any doubt they forced us
with the service and our reception and effectiveness in the
attack failed. It resulted in lack of concentration. I am not
happy, but satisfied.”
Azul Benítez, the captain, commented that “we knew it was going
to be a hard game which we could have even won, but we did not
get it. However we are satisfied with our performance and we
hope win over Chile in quarter-finals tomorrow.” |
