MATCH INFO
Argentina beats Puerto Rico in Niteroi opening match
Argentina's Gutstavo Alvarez, right, hits past Puerto Rico's Javier Perez.
Niterói, Brazil, August 1, 2011 - Argentina and Puerto Rico took part of the opening match of the Niterói cluster at the FIVB Volleyball Men´s Junior World Championship Brazil 2011, at Caio Martins gymnasium this morning.
The blue and red team did not feel tired after many hours of travel, due the volcano restrictions for flights around Latin America, and forced a tied game with the Argentineans on the first set. But the jet lag really got them on the other sets, favoring the South Americans, who won 3 – 1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-17). With this result, Argentina leads the Pool B, followed by Puerto Rico, Tunisia and Spain.
The teams were very even in scoring points. Puerto Rico held the edge in attacks, 45-44. The teams were tied in both blocks (8-8) and aces (7-7). However Puerto Rico was hurt by 39 team errors while Argentina only committed 18.
Puerto Rico’s Steven Morales led all scorers with 19 points, including 18 kills. Ivan Castellani paced Argentina with 16 points on 13 kills, two blocks and one ace. Gustavo Vaca Alvarez added 14 points on 12 kills and two blocks.
Argentina took the lead in the first set, but it was short-lived as Puerto Rico tied the match and overtook the South Americans at 5-4. With Argentina leading 23-22, Morales gave Puerto Rico set pont on two straight attacks and Puerto Rico won the match when Argentina could not return Puerto Rico's final spike. Ivan Castellani was the best for Argentina, with 6 points, and Steven Morales, from Puerto Rico, scored 8 points and was the best of the set.
The story changed completely in the second set, as Puerto Rico began to struggle with errors. Even with the skilled defenses of Morales, the Puerto Rican mistakes helped Argentina take the set victory. Again, Castellani led Argentina, along with Gustavo Vaca.
In the third set, Argentina kept on the lead, even with a good work of Morales, from Puerto Rico, and closed the set on 25-19 in 23 minutes. The Argentinian defense managed to stop Puerto Rico start, Morales, who was the best scorer of the game.
In the fourth set, Argentina kept on the lead, taking advantage on the Puerto Rico mistakes. Ivan Castellani was the best player on the Argentinian side, and it took 24 minutes to finish the game, on 25-17.
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