Parraguirre puts Ciudad back on track in Argentina

A pair of consecutive upsets wasn’t enough to stop Ciudad Voley as the Buenos Aires-based club returned to the top of the standings of the Argentinean Volleyball League on Wednesday following a 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-23) victory over Obras de San Juan in Tucuman.

The top scorer of the Argentinean League, 27-year-old Vicente Parraguirre was a key player in Ciudad’s victory. The Chile national team outside hitter, who’s in his first season with the club, tallied 25 points (23 kills, two blocks), ranking only behind Brazilian opposite Rodrigo ‘Alemao’ Telles, who produced 26 (24 kills, two blocks) for the winners. The team are coached by Hernan Ferraro, who led Argentina’s women’s national team to an 11th-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Obras had four players reaching double digits in opposite Geronimo Elgueta with 20 (19 kills, one block), outside hitters Ramiro Benitez and Luis Henrique Damas with 15 each and middle blocker Adalberto Liand with 14.

Ciudad’s eighth triumph in the season has moved the team back to the top spot in the standings with 24 points (eight wins, two losses). The winners of the 2021 Argentinean Supercup, who had lost their first matches in the season to UPCN, on Sunday, and to Once Unidos, on Tuesday, hold a single-point advantage over second-placed Policial Voley and are guaranteed the top position in the regular season at the conclusion of the second round, on Thursday.

Two more rounds are scheduled to take place in Argentina before the start of the playoffs, with the next taking place from February 12-18 and the fourth and final one from March 3-10.