Puerto Rico opened with a cruising victory over Algeria before a good crowd at Roberto Clemente Coliseum
San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 20, 2016 – Hosts Puerto Rico team did not disappoint their loyal home fans scoring a cruising straight-sets victory 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-12) over Algeria in the last match of opening day at the Women’s World Qualification Tournament before a crowd of some 6,000 at Roberto Clemente Coliseum on Friday.
The local team subdued their opponents throughout the match relying on their game from the service line and the defense at the net.
The scoring chart of Puerto Rico was well diversified with Karina Ocasio and Alexandra Oquendo topping the list each contributing 9 points and Daly Santana adding up 8, including three aces, coming off the bench. Yasmine Abderrahim was the best for Algeria with 7 tallies.
The serves of Puerto Rico caused a lot of damage in the Algerian side as the home side scored 11 aces compared to 2 by the African team. The winners also dominated their opponents in blocks 9-2 and attacks 37-18.
The first set saw Puerto Rico taking an 8-4 lead behind the attack of Cruz and Ocasio around two early blocks by Enright. Algeria scored a couple of times via Abderrahim but Ocasio who was head and shoulder above the rest with powerful spikes and serves to give the home side a 16-8 advantage. The set concluded 25-10 with the second ace landed by Morales.
Puerto Rico jumped out of the blocks in the second set giving Algeria the same medicine en route to 8-1 and 16-5 leads with Ferrer and Rosa contributing effectively off the bench.
Argelia erased a 5-1 deficit in the third set behind some good spikes by Abderrahim and Boukhima to take an 8-7 lead in the third set. However, the Algerian joy lived short as Puerto Rico regained composure to win the next nine points for a 16-8 score with Rosa leading the way.