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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, August 29, 2015.-
Costa Rica subdued Panama 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-22) on
day two of the Men’s U-21 Central American Championship at
Gymnasium Adolfo Pineda of El Salvador.
Costa Rica won the game with the loss of two men trough out the
match, due to injuries that leave them out of the competition.
Middle Blocker Marco Fernandez was the first injured, he was
carried out with an ankle injury at the last point in set one;
and Outside Hitter Oscar Ramirez crashed with Panama’s block in
the fourth set.
Both squads scored on errors of their opponent and also by their
own merits. Costa Rica held advantage but Panama’s powerful
offense balanced the score in their favor 25-22. Panama
continued strong over the net and Costa Rica responded well in
tough second set; Panama lost the set after missing three set
points. In the third set, Costa Rica started off with power,
attacking in the ends and blocking Panama to reach a six point
advantage 11-5, they were structured en took the set 25-20. The
beginning of set four Costa Rica continued to control Panama who
never gave up, tying to 11 points and from there forward the
score was always close; but two Panamanian errors placed Costa
Rica in winning position”.
Costa Rica held advantage in spikes (45-41) and serves (6-3).
Panama was superior in blocking (9-4). Costa Rica scored on 43
errors of Panama and gave away 38 points. Costa Rica has a 2-0
record and 7 points, while Panama stands with 1-1 and 4 points.
Outside Hitter Oscar Ramirez and Middle Blocker Jason Brown led
Costa Rica with 14 and 10 points respectively, Luis Padilla and
Walter Serrano contributed with 9 points each. Uriel Batista of
Panama led all scorers with 16 points. Drayan Bouche added 14
points for Panama.
“It was an intense duel. Our opponent put a lot of pressure on
us. Our coach was very smart in making the right changes for our
injured teammates; we are satisfied with the victory” said
captain Walter Serrano.
Captain Uriel Batista of Panama said “we lacked concentration on
several occasions and therefore we made mistakes were a high
cost. Costa Rica managed to counterattack our spikes. Tomorrow
we’ll come with all our weapons”.
Costa Rica’s coach Cesar Salas expressed that playing against
Panama isn’t easy “they are very strong and firm, I thought we
had lost the match in the second set. I believe the win comes
from two factors: our serve put Panama in trouble and my
substitute players responded well. It’s unfortunate that Marco
and Oscar won’t continue the competition”.
Horacio Angulo coach of Panama expressed “my team is new and
they need more experience, it was a challenging match. You can’t
miss serves in crucial points that can define a match; the
winner must be firm. Costa Rica took advantage very well of our
many faults and adjusted their defense. I believe we could have
won, even in five sets but we couldn’t capitalize.
We still can fight for a medal”. |
