MATCH INFO

Niterói, Brazil, August 8, 2011 – Tunisia defeated Puerto Rico 3-2 (27-29, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12) in the first match to determine classification 13-16 at Caio Martins gymnasium.

Tunisia will face the winner of the second match between Bulgaria and Egypt at 6:30pm. on August 9 to determine the 13th-place finisher.

Puerto Rico were playing without one of their leading scorers, Ricardo Archilla, who was sick. Noah Emannuel Marrero of Puerto Rico was the match’s leading scorer with 30 points on 24 attacks, five blocks and one service ace. On the Tunisian side, Mohamed Arbi Ben Abdallah scored 25 points, all on attacks. Mohamed Ayech had seven blocks for Tunisia and Mahdi Sammoud had three aces.

Puerto Rico led in attacks (59-56) and blocks (16-14). Tunisia led in aces (6-2).

Puerto Rico gave up 39 points on team errors, while Tunisia gave up 31 points. Puerto Rico were also given three yellow cards in the match.

In the first set, Tunisia took an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout (TTO) while Puerto Rico came back to lead 16-13 at the second. Tunisia tied the score at 20-20 on an ace from Mahdi Sammoud and the teams traded points. Tunisia reached set point first at 24-23, but its next attack went long. Its next set point was also derailed by an error. Puerto Rico reached set point at 26-25 and 27-26, but failed to convert.  Finally Puerto Rico’s Jose Ribas sent a spike down the middle to give his team set point at 28-27 and he used another attack to give Puerto Rico the win.

Puerto Rico held an 8-6 advantage at the first TTO of the second set. But Tunisia scored the next six points behind the serving of Sammoud to take a 12-8 lead. Puerto Rico tied the score at 13-13 and the score was still tied at 19-19 when Tunisia’s Ben Abdallah used two attacks in a row to give the African side the 21-19 lead. Tunisia scored three more points to reach set point at 24-19. Puerto Rico scored twice before it sent a serve long to give Tunisia the set.

Puerto Rico took an 8-3 lead at the first TTO of the third set and later held a 15-11 lead. Tunisia scored four points in a row behind the serving of Ben Abdallah – including an ace and three back-row attacks from Ben Abdallah – to tie the score at 15-15. At 16-16, Tunisia scored three points in a row behind Miladi Ben Othman and Puerto Rico never recovered.

With the score tied 9-9 in the fourth set Tunisia scored four straight points behind the serving of Amin Ben Bey, who had an ace in the run, to lead 13-9. Puerto Rico came back to tie the score at 16-16 and the score was still tied at 21-21. Tunisia was called for two straight violations to give Puerto Rico a 23-21 lead. Puerto Rico reached set point at 24-21. Tunisia scored on a spike by Ben Abdallah and Puerto Rico hitting error before winning the set on a tip by Emanuel Romero.

The tie-breaking fifth set came down to the wire. With the score tied at 11-11, Tunisia scored on an attack from Ben Othman and a double block. Puerto Rico called timeout, but its next attack attempt hit the net. With Tunisia at match point, Puerto Rico’s Noah Marrero scored with a spike before Tunisia’s Ben Othman ended it with a cross-court strike from the left.