Ruiz spikes for Spain in thrilling victory for Spain
Mexico City, Mexico, June 17, 2016- Andres Villena's impressive 32 points carried Spain’s tie-break victory over Mexico 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12) in the second match of opening day of Group 3 World League.
Villena had a spectacular performance with 32 points, on 29 kills and 3 blocks. Spain’s other double digit scorers were Francisco Ruiz and Juan Manuel Gonzalez with 10 points apiece. Mexico had in Daniel Vargas and Samuel Cordova its top scorers with 18 points each, and Jorge Barajas added 14 points.
This is the first time Spain and Mexico meet in World League and the victory goes to Spain leading in blocks 11-9, but Mexico led in spikes 67-61. Spain scored on 39 Mexican errors.
It was a one on one battle with both sides spiking strong from the start. Andres Villena for Spain and Daniel Vargas for the home team led the first points. Spain managed to move ahead 11-9 as Mexico struggled with consecutive unforced errors. The entire set points went back and forth, while the score was tied several times. Eventually it was Spain that benefited from Mexico’s continuous errors, winning set one 25-22.
Spain jumped to an early 5-2 lead in set two, with Villena gaining more spaces. After the first technical time-out, Mexico won some territory with good defence to level the score at 10-10. Jorge Barajas and Samuel Cordova contributed in Mexico’s three point lead and though Spain continued pushing strong having recovered well, pressuring Mexico’s blockers, it was the home team that took the second set 26-24.
Set three was similar to the beginning of the match, the score was very close and points went equally for both sides. Samuel Cordova scored two consecutive points, one on spike and one on blocking, putting Mexico in the lead 8-6. It wasn’t long for Spain’s blockers to even the score to 9 points. Villena remained solid, managing a 13-11 lead for Spain. The Europeans pulled away even further (18-14) with Fernando Ruiz and Miguel Angel Fornes offence over the net. During the set, Mexico lost several points for failed serves. Spain had no difficulties finishing to regain the lead with a 25-19 set win.
Spain opened set four with powerful attacks from its top scorer Villena, reaching the first technical time-out on top 8-5. Mexico was able to turn the score around 10-8 with three consecutive blocks by Cordova. Mexico stopped Spain scoring on several occasions with Vargas and Cordova double blocking, keeping the lead 15-12. Spain moved closer but could not find enough as Mexico forced a tie-break winning 25-22.
Barajas forMexico and Gonzalez for Spain were in charge of opening the scoreboard. Spain moved ahead 4-2, forcing Mexican Coach Azair asking for an early time-out. Spain benefited from Mexico’s unforced errors remaining on top as Ruiz added to Spain’s 8-5 lead with an unstoppable shot. Mexico had several spiking errors allowing Spain’s advantage to increase to 11-8 and with Villena, not only spiking strong, but stopping the Mexico offence it looked like Spain would come out on top. Mexico briefly threatened a revival to level at 12-12 but Spain accelerated again to snatch a thrilling tie-break 15-12 win.
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