Puerto Rico wins bronze medal in thrilling match

COLIMA, Mexico, August 10, 2025 – Puerto Rico captured the bronze medal at the XXII Senior Women's Pan American Volleyball Cup after a thrilling four-set victory 3-1 (14-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-20) over the home team, Mexico, this Sunday at the Multifunctional Auditorium of the Morelos Sports Complex in Colima, Mexico.

In the thrilling battle, although Puerto Rico won, Mexico led in all facets of the match, outscoring Puerto Ricans 51-48 in kills, 11-10 in blocks, and 9-4 from the service line.

Valeria Vázquez led the winners in points with 18 (16 kills and 2 blocks), followed by Annalee Champion and Paola Santiago with 17 and 11 points, respectively.

For Mexico, Sofía Maldonado led the game's offense with 24 points, followed by Samantha Briccio with 13, while captain Jocelyn Urias and Melanie Parra added 10 points each.

Juan Carlos Núñez, Puerto Rico coach: "We achieved one of the goals we set for ourselves since we arrived at this tournament, which was to be on the podium, no matter what medal it was, we were coming off two consecutive losses, so this teaches us a bit of maturity in our game and that no matter if you have a setback along the way, you have to be able to get back up. We are a very emotional team, and having come back from those losses to play a big game against Mexico at home is an important victory for us as a program."

Nicola Negro, Mexico coach: “It was a game in which we started well, the feeling was that from the third set onwards, our energy was very low and our serve was never decisive, we also lost a lot of aggression in our attacks, the opposite of Puerto Rico, who grew and put more aggression into their attacks. That was the difference in the game.”