Caguas, Puerto Rico, September 15, 2015 - In a high-paced game, Turkey had to claw their way back twice to defeat Puerto Rico, which showed more energy and spirit throughout almost the entire game. According to Turkish coach and captain, as they started mimicking the Puerto Rican style, they regained energy and managed the win.
Gabriela Ramos, Puerto Rico player: “We committed some errors in crucial moments of the game. We just didn’t have enough luck in those plays. Now we must continue to play as hard as this, as we will face a difficult team like China.”
Xiomara Molero, Puerto Rico coach: “At the important moments of the match, we failed and took some bad decisions. In the fifth set, we missed one service and that play costed us four points. The good news for us is that we are playing head to head against some of the greatest and most traditional teams in the world, with four players from the U18 team.”
Arelya Karasoy, Turkey captain: “We didn’t have enough energy and motivation. The problem was in our faces, you could tell what was happening just by looking at us. It affected our play, our normal volleyball - this just wasn’t Turkey. We also fell into simple mistakes, mainly in long rallies. We can find excuses for this problem we had, but this is a game and we should play it with energy. I hope we could push each other more in the next games.”
Hasan Celik, Turkey coach: “We improved our defence and lowered our mistakes to change the game. We started defending the way they were doing it, as they fought really hard the whole game. We weren’t as determined as them, but with that change we got the game back.”