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The offensive capabilities of outside attacker Pelegrín Vargas were on full display at the NORCECA Challenger Cup.
The Purdue Fort Wayne outside attacker playing with the Puerto Rican Men’s National Team finished among the tournament leaders in multiple offensive categories.
Vargas was second at the Challenger Cup with 29 kills, including a team-high 11 kills as Puerto Rico lost to Cuba in the de facto championship match on Saturday. With that match result, Cuba earned the tournament’s lone berth to the FIVB Challenger Cup where it will compete for a spot in the 2020 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
The All-MIVA selection was the only Puerto Rican player to have double-digit kills in both of the team’s Challenger Cup matches.
Vargas also concluded the Challenger Cup in the top 10 with a 45.31 percent offensive efficiency.
Along with his offensive performance, Vargas led Puerto Rico and was second at the tournament with six aces. Vargas contributed two aces in the team’s five-game tournament opening win against Mexico and then had a team-high four aces versus Cuba.
Vargas recently concluded his junior season with Purdue Fort Wayne in the nation’s top 10 with a 3.83 kills per game average. He also had a career-high .280 attack percentage and was in the top 10 of the MIVA averaging 1.74 digs per game as he helped the Mastodons reach the MIVA Tournament semifinals.
Vargas was one of two current NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players on the Puerto Rican roster for this NORCECA event. Barton outside attacker Adrian Iglesias came off the bench in both of Puerto Rico’s matches.