MATCH INFO

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9 – Top Youth and Junior world-ranked Argentina recovered from a slow start to clinch the first spot in the finals of the FIVB Men's Junior World Championship following a 3-1 (27-29, 28-26, 25-19, 25-20) victory over United States on Tuesday afternoon at Maracanazinho Gymnasium, in Rio de Janeiro.

 

By advancing to their first gold medal match in the history, Argentina surpassed their previous best result in the biennial event, a bronze medal earned in India in 2009. The South American's opponents in the title match will de decided from the clash between European sides of Russia and Serbia later today.

The losing team of this match will face the United States for the bronze medal. Like the Argentineans, the Americans had also achieved their best result ever, surpassing the seventh place they have arrived on three occasions.

Agustín Ramonda, who charted 20 points, led Argentina followed by Agustin Ramonda with 15. U.S. outside hitter Taylor Sander topped all the scorers with 25. The Americans gave away 37 points via unforced errors compared to 23 by Argentina.

 

 

The USA started the match ahead, with Dylan Davis blocking to score 9-5. After a thrilling rally, opposite Maurice Torres spiked to improve the American lead to 14-8. The team commanded by John Hawks IV achieved an impressive 20-13 advantage with the offense of captain Taylor Crabb, but the Argentineans won eight of the next 11 points to reduce 23-21 with Federico Franetovich stopping the same Crabb. Taking advantage of two American mistakes, the South American tied the match in the 23th point, but USA managed to win the frame 29-27 with a block of Joshua Taylor over Bruno Vinti.

Argentina was the team to start the second set ahead as the South American took advantage of three wrong spikes of the American to reach 8-3 in the first technical timeout. With Ramonda spiking, the top seeded scored 15-8. The USA reacted and reduced it to 17-13 with its triple block stopping Ivan Castellani. Following three straight errors of Gustavo Vaca, the American tied it 20-20. In the end, Nicolas Mendez came from the bench to decisively contribute to Argentinean 28-26 win, sealed with a spike of Castellani.

Third set's start was even, with Argentina achieving its first lead 12-10, after a spike of Ramonda. With Federico Martina blocking, the South American improved their advantage to 18-14, but Sander stopped Castellani a few moments later to reduced it 19-17. A second ball of setter and captain Juan Ignacio Finoli (22-17) put the Argentinean close to win, sealed 25-19 with a block point.

Argentina started the fourth set in advantage as American head coach asked for a timeout when the rivals achieved a 7-5 lead. After a huge block of Ramos, the South American scored 15-10. Managing to keep a safe lead until the end, Argentina closed the match and secured its place in the final match with a spike of Ramos that scored 25-20.