Members of the Russian team shake hands with the United States´squad before the beginning of their second match that won in three sets.
Santa Fe, Argentina, August 19, 2017 - After clinching their second triumph of the competition, the Russian team expect to increase their potential. Players like Oxana Yakushina, who closed as top scorer, remarked that she has committed to keep her level.
The European athletes have also a motivational key person who has travelled along with these youngsters across South America: the legendary Ekaterina Gamova, who also shared her thoughts after prevailing over the United States.
Ekaterina Gamova, Russian delegation member: “Our team has showed a good performance, they have done their best and I think they will improve game by game. It is a brand new experience. My first time traveling with them and I hope I can contribute with these girls.”
Oxana Yakushina, Opposite player of Russia: 'I think we played very good in block and service and that helped us to get the victory. I'm so happy for being the top scorer of the match, it's a really big pleasure. I'll try to maintain the level and be even better next time."
Madison Horin, Captain of USA: "I think we played out of focus, we had many passing mistakes and other things we couldn't control. We need to take care of it better than we did today. I think it was a tough game, but we're use to play high level volleyball: we played against Brazil, Japan and Italy prior to the competition and we can play against Russia, but today we committed too many mistakes. I'm sure we can comeback and be better than today."
Jim Stone Head, Coach of USA: "For most of our players this is the first international experience so I think we were okay, but we made pretty critical errors. We were paired at the starts of the sets, but then we committed passing and service errors that allowed Russia to get ahead. Our inexperienced players need to get mentally stronger, but they made good plays anyway. Now we have to work hard, trying to maintain the good things. Hopefully this team will build experience as the matches go by and keep getting better as the tournament moves on."