Puerto Rico beat Mexico and won Pool A 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 5, 2007.- Puerto Rico moved to the semi finals of the Men’s Pan American Cup with a four-set victory over Mexico by scores of 25-23, 25-27, 26-24, 25-19.

It was a very tough battle for the first three sets with both teams exchanging good and bad moments, but in the fourth the Puerto Ricans built a comfortable lead and cruised to the triumph and first place in Pool A.

Victor Bird with 24 points led four Puerto Ricans in double digits. Roberto Muniz had 15 and Josue Nunez and Enrique Escalante added 12 and 11 respectively.

Jose Martell had 20 points for Mexico and Juan Garcia and Gustavo Meyer contributed 14 and 10 tallies.

“I think the difference was our serves in the fourth set,” said Jorge Perez Vento, the Puerto Rican coach. “We mostly served floated instead of jumping and reduced the amount of errors in losing serves.”

“I think that the three teams in our pool (Canada is the other) have the chance to win the tournament. Right now, my goal is not only to qualify for the America’s Cup but also winning the gold medal here,” added Perez Vento.

“We lacked the necessary concentration in the fourth set and when we reacted was too late,” said Carlos Novoa, the Mexican coach. “The first three sets were pretty even and either team could have won it.”