2017 U20 Pan American Cup
- May 8-13th, 2017
- San Jose, Costa Rica
- The top-placing North American and South American teams qualify for the U20 World Championships this summer
The United States, Cuba, Argentina, and Puerto Rico have all advanced to Friday’s semi-final round in Costa Rica at the 2017 U20 Pan American Cup. As the lone surviving team from South America, that means that Argentina has secured a spot in the U20 World Championships this summer.
Semifinals Schedule
May 12: USA (1A) vs. Cuba (1C), 7:30 p.m.
May 12: Puerto Rico (1B) vs. Argentina (2A), 9:30 p.m.
USA def. Uruguay 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-17)
The Americans moved through by beating Pool B runner-up Uruguay 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-17) in their quarterfinal, holding huge advantages in kills (39-23), blocks (9-2), and aces (5-2). The Americans were able to play their entire roster in the bench, with Texas freshman Brionne Butler leading the way with 8 points, matched by Elizabeth Hall. Uruguay’s Camila Bausero led all players with 9 points.
“The team is getting into a better rhythm, I have a great group of players and I had little time to choose the best line-up possible and today I put everyone to play.” U.S. coach Jerritt Elliott said of his teams performance. “This has made my decisions harder and I tried to put the best team forward to try to qualify. Against Cuba we’ll jump as high and hard as we can; obviously it will be challenging, we have much respect for them and we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
“We were expecting a difficult match, United States is a world power in volleyball and it was a challenge for us,” said Uruguay’s captain Florencia Suarez. “On occasions we played like equals using our “charrua,” heart, on the court.”
““We did a good job, everyone got the chance to prove themselves and show how good a team we could be,” said American captain Khalia Lanier. “As a team we are very deep, even the girls on the bench are always ready to do their job. We will have to scout our opponent really well and focus on our performance.”
Argentina def. Peru 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-19)
Argentina got a key win in the quarterfinals over South American rivals Peru in their quarterfinal. Thanks to the Americans’ later win over Uruguay, that assured Argentina of a trip to the U20 World Championships.
Courtesy: NORCECA
“This was the match we needed to win,” said Argentina’s head coach Guillermo Caceres. “It was expected that Peru would push us stronger in set three but luckily we were able to recover. I am very proud of this group of players, they performed very well and I’m satisfied of their consistency. We have a lot of people involved to thank besides the players.”
Argentina was led by opposites Anahi Tosi and Benisse Soria with 16 and 11 points, respectively, in the rout. Peru got 8 each from Katherine Regalado and Leslie Leyva.
“It’s hard to believe that Peru won’t be in the world championship,” said their coach Macro Queiroga. “Our expectations were very good, both teams had the same pressure but Argentina was the team that controlled it better. In the third set, we held advantage because Argentina played more relaxed.”
Peru had qualified for each of the last 3 U20 World Championships, including in 2011 when they hosted.
Cuba and Puerto Rico, who will play the Americans and Argentinians, respectively, both advanced straight through to the semi-finals.
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