Jamaica defeats Costa Rica and goes for fifth place

HAVANA, Cuba, June 28, 2016 –Jamaican team defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 27-25) and will go for the fifth place of the NORCECA Boys U-19 Championship on the closing day scheduled for this Wednesday at the Sports City Coliseum.

The winners took a decisive lead in attack (41-36) and block (11-8), as in the last two sets the Central Americans presented fierce resistance, but the Caribbean knew to appease it to achieve the victory in more than an hour.

Once more, the opposite hitter Jovan Thomas lived up to his leadership in the team by becoming the match best scorer (15), followed by Javarie James (13), Shavar James (11) and Andrew Jones (10). On the Costa Rica side, the outside hitters Manrique Carazo (13) and José Andrés Ortiz (11) scored double-digits.

Fairly, the team captain Thomas did have a big smile on his face. “It was a good game. We have improved and fortunately we showed ourselves better than yesterday when we were defeated by Nicaragua.”

Steve Davis, coach of Jamaica admitted that “Costa Rica put up a good fight, but we were stronger and more efficient. Today we did not make as many faults in the net as yesterday when they added up to 15, but only 2 in this match. Likewise the block was better.”

Arturo Solano, Costa Rican coach, considered this ending as “a result of a series of problems piled up in a set of games in addition to the lack of fighting spirit which at this stage of the event is affecting us. The other squads are more aggressive, but we have had trouble reacting; as a consequence of the emotions.

Carazo, the team best scorer, stated “actually, we were not so combative, particularly against a uneasy opponent. We decreased our playing level a lot and we were not able to react to it. Anyway, we must continue to better ourselves.”

In B Pool, Jamaica finished third one (1-2) with a win over Antigua and Barbuda (3-0) and looses against Cuba (0-3) and Mexico (0-3); whereas in quarterfinals they lost versus Nicaragua (0-3). 

In A Pool, Costa Rica was fourth one after losing against Dominican Republic (2-3), United States (0-3) and Nicaragua (2-3).