Puerto Rico NT 2019

    hi yall,


    anyone has more info on the PUR NT this year? i had asked about it in the IOQT thread and then i found out that PUR actually only sent 12 players to the tournament.


    setters: valentin, santos, rivera

    OPP: prieto, collazo

    OH: cruz, enright, victoria,

    MB: ortiz, jusino, rojas

    libero: velez


    i understand both santana and ocasio are hurt.


    i noticed that valentin had bad connection with MBs, and where is quesada? she used to have a better connection with her


    where is noemi santos? also, PUR is missing its best libero, venegas.


    i know this team has faced lots of challenges lately... it's a pity as they have such good players.


    btw setter rivera mostly came in for serving. she has a wicked serve!!!!! she's very promising.

    Daly Santana just started practising. Probably she won't play this summer.

    Yeah, it is not the best roster PR can send to a tournament.


    Setters. 3 good setters, Rivera will be the future of this NT IMHO. Not sure why Jennifer Nogueras doesn't get called anymore. Her older sister Michelle seems to have retired. Mariana Thon is another setter. Rookie Kathia Sanchez had a solid LVSF and could take a spot in the future.


    Outside hitters. Apparently Noami Santos-Lamb asked for the spanish citizenship, 'cause she wants to live in Spain. I wish we could see Carola Biver and Legna Hernandez with the team, I like them both. Fefa Enright, Aury Cruz and Pilar Victoria are of course the best players left for this position. Pilar's little sister, Sofia, is another player to keep an eye on for the future. Santana is still recovering from her injury.


    Opposites. Ocasio is injured since the LVSF for overusing her body. Not really clear what happened to her, but that's the reason. Prieto-Cerame and Collazo played an hell of LVSF. They're the best players on the position, no doubt.


    Middles. Quesada didn't impress at all IMHO. Same for Ana Sofia Jusino. Real question is: where's Alba Hernandez? Ortiz is probably the best middle of the country, not counting the retired (from NT) Lynda Morales. Rojas was amazing during the league season; her blocking skills are outstanding. I wish Mieles called Paola Rivera (she's worth it) and I hope Diana Reyes didn't retire from NT, 'cause she was unstoppable after 3 seasons of break for maternity.


    Liberos. Nomaris Velez really earned the spot: she has been playing very good for years, her level never dropped a bit. I'm not a big fan of Venegas, I like her, but that's it. Another libero who really pushed hard during the club season is Katherine Santiago and I think she really deserved a call. Pamela Cartagena played outside hitter this season, entering on court for the opposite Oneida Gonzalez, in order to set Ocasio free from passing; she's still a great player, but also 32 y.o. Nayka Benitez and Valeria Leon shared the tasks for the Llaneras de Toa Baja and IMHO noone of them really shined. On the other hand Xiomara Colon is still an amazing libero. She and Seilhamer are still on another level than the others.

    Natalia Valentin said in interview for polish media that only 14 players were called for NT this year. They're still dreaming about Tokyo. She said they would like to play more against top teams. They're missing the old WGP where Puerto Rico was able to play against better teams.

    She also added that their league would be stronger in the future because the federation wants to invite some teams from outside of Puerto Rico.

    the only way PUR will make it to tokyo is if they beat DOM at the norceca Q. a very tall order...


    QPL, i don't follow the PUR league obviously, but alba hernandez????? all the times i saw her in the NT, she was so slow and uncoordinated. i never saw her get a kill, a few blocks yes, but no kills.


    collazo is the backup OPP (to prieto) at the recent pan am games, IOQT and pan am cup, but the coach never puts her on... he calls pilar victoria for the double sub.


    is ferrer done with the NT?

    i don't know how interesting it is but i found this video from the AAU, which i guess is a tournament for school girls in the US, but they have international teams. this is a match between DOM x PUR.



    several of the DOM players are known from their junior teams and some have been promoted to the senior NT for some lesser tournaments, including natalia martinez, geraldine gonzalez, yanlis feliz, etc. also there is jazmine guillen (she is in the bench but doesn't play),...


    of the PUR, i thought the libero, moro, was amazing, but also interesting is that big MB, loraine lopez, but i wonder how she will transition to the adult game, since in this game, she doesn't play the backrow (libero serves and stays in the back instead).


    QPL, do you know any of these girls?

    Quote from ossubtus

    i just found out that PUR beat RUS (with gamova) in 2009 GP. anyone knows of what happened? is there a video of that match?

    They were very good back then. PUR and DOM played the final at the NORCECA championship the Same year, eliminating USA and CUB, and the dominicans won in 5 After an epic game.

    Quote from ossubtus

    i found this info, maybe US had a mixed team back then....?



    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…yball_Championship_squads

    The only starter they were missing was Logan. Kim Glass was starter Just in 2008 and when Larson finished her college career took the position over.


    Willoughby played for NT Just in 2008. Nnamani after Beijing played mostly minor tournaments. Ah Mow retired after Beijing, if I'm not wrong.


    Thompson won the face for the back up setter position over McGinnis. Barboza and Metcalfe were back on the team After they didn't made the cut for the OGs; Jenny surprisingly brought 2 liberos and Willoughby. Harmotto was Just out of college and made the cut for this tournament over Joines.


    Scott, Bown, Berg, Davis, Sykora were all main players back then.


    In 2010 Alisha Glass, Hooker and Hodge joined the program, when they completed their college careers. Akinradewo joined as well after a little break to finish her studies at Stanford.

    I think Larson missed the GP that year because of her mom passing away. Right?

    wow. thanks!!!!!!


    and this is RUS A team too... or it seems to be (koshe, gamova, startseva, borodakova are here).


    been watching some old PUR matches, didn't know malpica/ocasio played initially as passing OH. obviously not her forte...


    i still think she's better than prieto. PUR misses her.

    That was PR B team too, or at least not really close to their A Team.


    Rosa, despite being team capitan, has never been a full time starter. Same for Collazo.


    Valentin was Mojica's back and Venegas was Seilhamer's back up.


    Reyes was probably supposed to be starter, but she left the game for a while to have her baby; Sheila Ocasio used to play with Morales in the middle, before Oquendo took the position from her.