After winning the World Championship qualification tournament, Argentina rejoice with the Copa LCPeru trophy
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 16, 2017 – Argentina booked their ticket for Japan 2018 as they topped the final standings of the South American qualification tournament for one spot at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. This completes the CSV contingent for next year’s major volleyball event after Brazil had already booked the other spot, available to the confederation, by winning the 2017 South American Championship. Before their last match in Arequipa, the Argentineans needed to win one set against hosts Peru, but they managed to win the entire game in four sets.
In the first match of the last competition day at the Coliseo Arequipa on Sunday, Colombia claimed a speedy 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-11) victory over Uruguay. Coach Antonio Rizola’s squad needed only 60 minutes to stamp the straight-set win and save a shot at qualifying.
Maria Martinez was the best scorer of the match accounting for 15 of Colombia’s points. On Uruguay’s side, captain Florencia Aguirre topped the chart with seven points.
“Everything went well in this match and now we wait to see what happens in the next game,” said Colombia’s Dayana Segovia upon celebrating the victory.
However, Argentina secured their trip to Japan 2018 early into the second match of the day by winning the first set and then went on to claim a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16) victory after 102 minutes of play. Despite the noisy crowd of eight thousand spectators that packed the stands at the Coliseo Arequipa to support the home team of Peru, Las Panteras’ attacks were unstoppable and brought them to the much anticipated triumph.
Yamila Nizetich was on fire, contributing as many as 22 points to Argentina’s win. Carla Rueda accumulated 12 points to become Peru’s best scorer.
“We reached our goal, we are going to Japan and we can’t be any happier,” exclaimed Argentina’s captain Emilce Sosa. “Thank you, Argentina, for supporting us!”
Argentina topped the tournament’s final standings unbeaten, with nine points on their record, followed by Colombia with six points, Peru with three points, and Uruguay.
The FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Japan is scheduled to take place from September 29 through October 20, 2018.