Colombia wins long duel with Costa Rica

CALLAO, Perú, 15 de junio, 2013 - Colombia overcame Costa Rica in five sets 35-33, 15-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-6 in a consolation match for the 9-12 positions of the Movistar Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup at Miguel Grau Coliseum of Callao on Saturday.

The score of the first set tied the second highest scoring set in the history of the Pan American Cup. The winners will play against Trinidad & Tobago for the ninth position of the intercontinental event.

Andrea Estrada and Margarita Martinez finished with 19 and 14 points for the winners while Ivonne Montaño and Melissa Rangel added 13 and 10.

Costa Rica’s Verania Willis had a match-high 30 points in the losing effort. Paola Ramírez and Angela Willis finished with 13 and 11 respectively.

Lorena Zuleta, the Colombian captain said this was a great chance for the youngsters to prepare for the world championship in a few more days. “Having a victory is always great, for me it was good when talking about contributing for it, for them is to gain confidence and preparation for such a big commitment,” she said.

Mauro Marasciulo, head coach of Colombia stated: “We are calmed about this result, but we originally expected to play Mexico in our next match because it is a team in our category, however we will match Trinidad and Tobago, a senior team that is very strong”.

Horacio Bastit, heda coach of Costa Rica remarked: “We have a couple of players that make a difference in this team, but unfortunately we didn’t have them all at the same time. Today we missed Karen (Cope), maybe things had been different, but you cannot change that”.