PUERTO RICO DEFEAT MEXICO, WILL FACE BRAZIL IN FINALS

Puerto Ricans advanced to the finals after
defeating Mexico.

Mexicali, Mexico, July 15 2011.— Francisco Velez scored 25 and Puerto Rico defeated the host Mexico 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 15-13) to face Brazil at Boys’ U19 Pan American Cup for the gold medal.

Along with Velez, Carlos Acosta and Edgardo Cartagena scored 17 and 15.Mexico’s Sergio Perez finished with 17, Marco Rodriguez 15, Roberto Rincon 14, and Cristian Limon 12. “Playing this match was a great motivation for us. They knew how to set on the court and the match went out of our hands”, said Mexican captain Jonathan Ponce.

“We knew about the quality of our rivals, that’s the way it is, and congratulations to Puerto Rico”, stated Mexico’s coach Oscar Licea. “It was a very tough match, full of emotions, and we knew how to solve it, it was the best match I have ever played, but we still need to make some progress”, said Puerto Rican Carlos Acosta.

“The boys did not fell down, they kept playing and tomorrow we will have a very difficult match against Brazil, and must play with no conformism”, remarked coach Ramon Lawrence.

Mexico will play for the bronze medal, against USA.