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GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 27, 2022.- Costa
Rica will play for the last berth to the 2023
FIVB U19 World Championship after beating
Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-15, 25-13, 25-27,
25-19) at the Boys U19 Pan American Cup.
Costa Rica held comfortable advantages in the
first and second sets, but recovered from a
four-point deficit (14-18) in the third set
reaching 24 all but Dominican Republic extended
the match to a fourth and final set.
Costa Rica progressed to play for fifth place of
the event with a 48-36 advantage in kills, an
8-2 in serves and committing 32 unforced errors.
Dominican Republic held a 4-2 margin in blocks
and committed 42 errors.
Outside hitter Stanley Grant led Costa Rica with
24 points from 19 kills and five aces; middle
blocker David Cordoba and outside hitter Kevin
Parra added 11 points apiece.
Opposite hitter Franklyn De Jesus Reyes scored
23 points as Dominican Republic´s leading
scorer, on 22 kills and one ace.
Alberto Blanco, Head Coach Costa Rica: “It
has been beneficial facing strong teams like
United States, Mexico and Chile. Our first two
sets against Dominican Republic were comfortable
and in the third set the boys felt it was easy
and got relaxed. Our team has grown and we are
glad that a Central American team will qualify
to Worlds”.
Andrés Vargas, Libero Costa Rica: “We
showed we can win, we were nervous coming into
the tournament. I believe our mentality helped
us today, the coaches have supported us a lot
and it has given us stability to have better
results”. |
