Vargas drives Mexico to first win in 2017 World League

Barcelona, Spain, June 3, 2017 - Daniel Vargas’s motivation and efficiency in attack drove Mexico to their first victory in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League. The Mexican side defeated Greece by 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21), thus shaking off the defeat in the inaugural day of the competition in Barcelona.

Vargas scored as many as 20 points to top the scorers’ chart of the match. Jorge Barajas added another 19 for Mexico. On the Greek side, Nikos Zoupani led the scorers with 16 points, followed by Menelaos Kokkinakis with 13.

This is the first victory for Mexico over Greece in the history of the World League. The southern Europeans won the first two encounters they had with Mexico in 2015.

The Greek players found themselves below in the scoreboard early in the first period, and despite their efforts to take greater risks with the serve in order to obstruct their rivals’ performance, Mexico maintained their command of the period with Daniel Vargas leading the offensive actions. A powerful spike by Jorge Barajas finished the set at 25-18 to Mexico. 

While the Mexican players aimed at extending their domination of the game to the second period, Greece tried to fight back to put an end to their rivals’ enthusiasm. Jorge Miguel Azair’s men managed to stay in control, and as the stakes were getting higher at the key moments of the set, Mexico’s inspiration led them to a 25-22 win.

The Greeks’ efforts paid back in the third period. Arseniadis Konstantinos’s men were able to lead through Nikos Zoupani’s efficient contribution. Mexico trailed behind, and while the ups and downs in the Greeks’ play gave the American side the opportunity to reach the final stages of the set with options to win it, Greece kept their poise this time and finished the period at 25-23 with a spike by Andreas-Dimitrios Fragkos.

In the fourth set Greece had to overcome the injury of top scorer Nikos Zoupani. Even with this major setback, the Greek side did not allow Mexico to take a lead for a while. The tie, which persisted almost until the end of the set, was scrapped with a late three-point lead by Mexico, with Vargas taking the responsibility to score. Alejandro Moreno put the ball on the other side of the net and Mexico wrapped up the game with a 25-21 close to get their first victory in the 2017 edition of the tournament.