Karina Ocasio was the main cannon in Puerto Rico's artillery in their match against Argentina
Włocławek, Poland, June 11, 2016 – Puerto Rico gained their fifth victory in a row in Poland, after a long and bumpy game against Argentina 3-1 (30-28, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22).
The clash of the two teams from America, both qualified to the Olympic Games, was a long journey through rises and falls for both parties. Thanks to a great performance of Karina Ocasio (26 pts, with four blocks and three service aces) Puerto Rico confirmed their good, consistent level before the WGP Final Four. Daly Santana (Puerto Rico, 13 pts) received the organizers’ award for the match’s Most Impressive Player.
After a good game against Poland on Friday, Argentinians started with a passion and tried to keep up with Puerto Rico’s pace. From the first technical time-out the coach Nunez’s players broke away by three points and enlarged their advantage till 20-13. Unfortunately they lost concentration and let Argentina spread their wings in the prolonged ending of the first set. Puerto Rico showed more self-confidence and finally won 30-28.
Start of the second set belonged to team Argentina who leaded 8-4. Emilce Sosa continued her pass on spike and was very helpful in building up the advantage. Daly Santana on the Puerto Rico’s side did not stop her hand and defeated the opponents double block, but Argentinians stayed focused and kept the lead till the end at 25-22.
The next part also began well for the Albicelestes, who had a two points more at the first break in the third set. Puerto Rico caught them up easily and thanks to Karina Ocasio’s great effort in offence they moved ahead 13-10. Coach Guillermo Orduna was forced to take a time-out for Argentina a moment later, because his team got lost on the court and their rivals easily took a five-point lead. The substitutions did not help and soon Puerto Rico could enjoy their win at 25-16, after a massive kill by Ocasio.
Argentina learned their lesson in the previous part and improved, especially in block, which resulted in 8-4 for them on the first TTO. Their opponents came back to the game and blocked Emilce Sosa’s spikes. Coach Orduna tried to motivate his players at 20-19 for Puerto Rico, but technical faults decided were the decisive factor in the final score of 25-22.