Venezuela finishes in fifth place after beating Mexico

TIJUANA, México, August 16, 2014.- Venezuela finished in fifth place IX Men’s Pan American Cup after beating Mexico in four sets (22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-23).

Captain Kervin Pinerua finished as top scorer with a total of 19 points, with two aces. Maximo Montoya scored 13, two in aces, while Jesus Chourio closed with 11, all of them for Venezuela. For Mexico, Carlos Guerra converted 13 points and Daniel Vargas 9.

“We finished with a victory and a spot in the World League and We will go to Qatar to continue with our preparation for the World Championship in Poland”, Venezuelan captain Kervin Pinerua expressed.

“When you win is something good. I saw a very good match. Much better today, beacuse we made it so well, testing all the team. We trained hard, and responded to every indication, whit a great work by Máximo Montoya,” Vincenzo Nacci, coach of Venezuela remarked.

“The result is very important for us, but I also have to see what we have in our roster, my depth chart. If I didn’t do that here probably I wouldn’t have such a chance any longer. We took the risk in the sets, but this was the time to test my players,” Sergio Hernandez, coach of Mexico stated.

“That’s why we kept Meyer on the bench, but in the end He got into rhythm. Unfortunately it was like We covered one hole but left another uncovered,” Hernandez added.

“Congratulations to Venezuela, they did a great job and a good match. It is a very good team. We faced each other previously in Mexico City before the Cup in Mexico City. And now we have to be ready for the World Championship,”, Mexican captain Jorge Quiñones indicated.

Both teams will travel to Qatar to compete in a friendship tournament before their trip to Poland where the FIVB World Championship begins on August 30. Mexico finished in sixth place overall and was the fourth best ranked team of Norceca in the tournament to remain as part of the World League.