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TORONTO, Canada, July 17, 2015 – Facundo Conte recorded 25
points to lead Argentina to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 25-15)
victory over Cuba in the closing match of day one at the men’s
volleyball tournament of the Pan American Games at Toronto
Exhibition Centre on Friday.
Conte, who had four aces and two blocks, was supported by three
other teammates who also reached double digits in the scores.
Jose Luis Gonzalez, Sebastián Solé and Pablo Creer finished with
18, 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the victory.
Rolando Cepeda and Javier Jimenez topped Cuba with 14 and 12
points, respectively, while Osmany Uriarte had eight in the
losing cause.
Argentina held a 12-8 margin in the blocking department and was
also better from the service line with a 7-1 difference.
However, they made 30 unforced errors to 21 by Cuba.
Rolando Cepeda, player of Cuba: “We started with a loss but we
can recover from it and finish among the top four which is our
goal. In the third set we played with more decision and that was
the difference. We made many mistakes in the rest of the match.”
Pablo Crer, player of Argentina: “Cuba never is an easy opponent
and it showed at the World League. We played well except for the
errors in the third set. The key for us today was the blocking
and defense.”
Julio Velasco, coach Argentina: “We are just coming back from
Bulgaria after playing a lot, but there is a great spirit of
unity and a great motivation in the team. And we feel that at
these games. We are not in a hotel, we are in a village where
the atmosphere is more intimate and makes you stronger. That
helps you a lot and today we played with order.”
Javier Filardi, captain of Argentina: “This is a very important
tournament for us. We have solid expectations. Tonight we had a
good match. But we went a little bit down in the third set.
That’s part of the anxiety you feel when you try to close and
opening match. Everything that happened in the third set helped
us to have a solid reaction. That was good for us, overall”.
Rodolfo Sanchez, coach of Cuba: “We just couldn’t keep
concentrated, that’s so simple. We thought that playing good
only in the third set
was enough to win. We had lack of decision in every action. Our
key players couldn’t appear at the right moment. But we must
improve our strategy in our next match”.
Facundo Conte, player of Argentina: “We have a solid
commitment. We got in to the court and showed personality at
this match despite we could not qualify at the World League. Now
we have a goal and that goal is to reach the podium. We showed a
good game, and I think we will keep it”. |
