Argentina's Lucia Fresco spikes against the Uruguayan block
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 15, 2017 – Argentina placed themselves well within reach of the last South American spot at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in 2018 after mastering a second straight-setter at the qualification tournament in Arequipa, Peru – 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-11) against Uruguay. In the second match of the second day Colombia upset hosts Peru with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-20) shutout. This means that Las Panteras now need to win one set against Peru on Sunday to book their tickets to Japan 2018.
Four teams – Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay – are playing a three-day round-robin tournament to determine the last South American representative at Japan 2018, after Brazil already booked the other spot, available to the CSV, by winning the 2017 South American Championship.
The Argentineans needed only one hour of play time to cruise to a crushing 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-11) victory over their Uruguayan neighbours. With great performance in both serving and blocking, coach Guillermo Orduna’s squad established complete domination on the court to manage a speedy win.
Yamila Nizetich played only in the first two sets, but this sufficed her to become the best scorer of the match after contributing 13 points to Argentina’s victory. Florencia Aguirre topped Uruguay’s chart with 10 points.
“It has been a very emotional victory for us - it was like winning a final,” said Argentina’s opposite Lucia Fresco. “Still we have one more ‘final’ to play on Sunday. We have to prepare in the best possible way and give out everything.”
Eight thousand spectators at the Coliseo Arequipa were rooting for the home side to claim their second victory of the tournament, but the team of Colombia left them disappointed after 92 minutes of play, when they closed a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-20) winning deal. The Colombians outplayed the Peruvians in both offence and blocking and saved themselves a shot at qualifying.
Melissa Rangel contributed 15 points to Colombia’s success topping the scorers’ charts of the match. Carla Rueda was Peru’s most prolific player with 10 points.
“We played an orderly, tactically disciplined game,” said Antonio Rizola, coach of Colombia. “It was not easy to get back up on our feet after the match against Argentina.”
Remaining match schedule (all times local):
October 15, 16:00 – Colombia v Uruguay
October 15, 18:00 – Peru v Argentina