Manama, Bahrain, July 20, 2019 – Puerto Rico defeated Morocco 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 34-36, 25-20) on Saturday to record their first win in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship.
Puerto Rico coach Francisco Negron: “It was a really tough match. We could have closed it out in three sets then it got really complicated. But we were able to pull it out in the fourth set.
“We want to give our best effort every night because we like competing. For the 9th-16th spots, there are also tough teams, so if we were able to win one of those matches then that would be really good for our programme.”
Puerto Rico captain Pedro Molina: “It was a tough game. We had it in the first two sets but we utilised other players to let them have playing time and then we encountered some issues. However, in the fourth set we were able to take the victory.
“We really wanted this win badly. It was very different from our first match where we played bad. We poured our hearts out on the court and that is what matters.”
Morocco coach Khalid Berma: “We have been raising our level in each match. One of the problems for us in this competition was our lack of preparation. We had only one month and a half to prepare, which is not good if we want to do well in this Championship.”
Morocco captain Oussama Elazhari: “This match was good for our team but we did not take the chances. We lost this match because of our own fault. We have take responsibility for this. We had a good chance but we were not focused.”
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship Bahrain 2019
FIVB.com - Volleyball
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram