Press release

Almirante Brown, Argentina, August 28, 2011 - Breaking its dry spell in the final match of the tournament, Puerto Rico achieved its first win by defeating Tunisia in four sets (26-24, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23) to finish the World Championship in the 15th place of the final ranking.

Puerto Rican star Ángel Pérez was superb for the winning team, scoring 20 points, supported by Carlos Acosta with 15 and middle-blockers Emanuel Romero and Giovanni Llinás, both charting 13 kills. The same score held Tunisia's Malek Chekir, leading his side.

Puerto Rico started the match ahead by four points (8-4). Tunisia leveled at 11-11, but Puerto Rico remained active to regain the lead at the second technical time out (16-14). The Caribbeans enhanced the difference to 22-17, but own mistakes allowed a new tie, in 24-24. Captain Acosta stepped forward and carried his side to a 26-24 score.

The tide changed at the beginning of the second set as Tunisia led the score 8-3. Nevertheless, Puerto Rico recovered and took control to 16-13, using wing spikers Pérez and Acosta as favourite weapons. Both performed well and for the first time in the tournament, Puerto Rico jumped to a 2-0 lead with the final 25-22 score.

Tunisia's coach Hichem Ben Romdhane chose second setter Mohamed Hatira for the third set, and the substitution worked. Tunisia got leads of 8-5 and 16-12, quickly seizing some mistakes in the Puerto Rican side. The red team rushed to 22-20, but a Tunisian time out managed to slow down the caribbeans. The Africans won the set 25-21 after a bad serve by Pérez.

Puerto Rico showed more determination in the fourth chapter and went up by 3 points (8-5). Luis Bertran, the Caribbean libero, showed a good performance in defense and helped the team to stay ahead reaching the second TTO 16-13. After a few wrong attacks by Raynel Sánchez, Tunisia tied the deal 19-19, but Emanuel Romero pulled out a key block (22-20). The same Romero sealed the match in 25-23.