Argentina's players celebrated like after winning a final
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 12, 2016 – Lucia Fresco, who uncorked an ace to give Argentina its first ever Olympic victory, that instant will remain indelible in her mind for the rest of her life.
Fresco started only in the last two sets of the five-set contest against Cameroon, but recorded three aces in the match to lead Argentina.
Lucia Fresco, Player of Argentina: It is a great feeling, a huge thrill to close the match that way. I would say it is the biggest ace of my life, something I will never forget. It’s my Olympic ace to give Argentina its first victory. All of us had watered eyes at the end as we were able to overcome so hard times. Now we are optimistic for the match against Japan.
Emilce Sosa, Player of Argentina: We had good reception at the key moments and the attack with us, the middle blockers, was effective. We came with a positive mind to win this match as I am sure was also the case of Cameroon. The most important thing is that we achieved the win. Cameroon plays a power game, which is different to the fast rhythm of Japan, our next opponent. We are going to celebrate for a moment an start thinking about the next match against the Japanese.
Guillermo Orduna, Coach of Argentina: Our team battled until the end without giving up and got its reward. For Argentina it is the first Olympic victory in women’s volleyball. It is a big victory for our volleyball.
Jean Rene Akono, Coach of Cameroon: Argentina won this match because we did not do what we were supposed to do in the final set. There were problems in this match because we had one player who is injured. We had to rely only on one player to play and play, so it was very difficult for our team to be in this kind of situation.
Stephanie Fotso Mogoung, Player of Cameroon: We played our best and we did what we can, but in the end we didn’t win. The result could have gone either way. We have to stay focused because we still have a match against Korea. Cameroon are playing against the best teams in the world in this tournament. We are proud of our performance, even if it was not enough to win a match, we still keep our heads up high in this competition.