USA dominance at U-18 to be challenged in San Jose

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 22, 2014 – Six-time defending champions United States are one of nine teams to compete at the NORCECA Girls’ U-18 Continental Championship to be played in the city of San Jose, capital of Costa Rica, from June 24-29.

Since the inception of the event in 1998, the dominance of the United States representative has been more than evident as the Americans have won seven of the eight editions of the competition to go with one silver medal.

Puerto Rico, with a gold medal in 2000, when the event took place in the Dominican Republic, is the only other country besides United States to be crowned at the biennial tournament.

The nine teams have been distributed in three pools according to the NORCECA Rankings and utilizing the serpentine system for the seeding.

Pool A consists of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago, Pool B is formed by United States, Mexico and Honduras, while in Pool C the teams are Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and St Lucia.

The two pool winners with the highest ranking in the preliminary pool play will receive byes directly to the semifinals and the pool winner with the lowest ranking will compete in the quarterfinals with the second placed teams.

The top three teams at the end of the competition will get tickets to the 2015 FIVB Girls’ U-18 World Championship.

The Gimnasio Nacional of Costa Rica, with a 5,000 seating capacity, is the official competition venue to be inspected on Sunday by the members of the NORCECA Control Committee who arrived in San Jose on Saturday.

Teams are scheduled to arrive on Sunday with the preliminary inquiry and general technical meeting to take place on Monday.

United States won the gold medal in 2012 at Tijuana, Mexico with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-15) victory over the Dominican Republic. Hosts Mexico claimed the bronze medal by defeating Puerto Rico in five thrilling sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-13).

The three-day preliminary pool schedule is as follows:

Tuesday June 24

16:00 Puerto Rico v St Lucia

18:00 Honduras v United States

20:00 Trinidad & Tobago v Costa Rica

Wednesday June 25

16:00 St Lucia v Dominican Republic

18:00 Guatemala v Trinidad & Tobago

20:00 Mexico v Honduras

Thursday June 26

16:00 United States v Mexico

18:00 Dominican Republic v Puerto Rico

20:00 Costa Rica v Guatemala

Historical Podiums

Year    Gold    Silver  Bronze

1998     USA      PUR      CAN

2000     PUR      USA      DOM

2002     USA      DOM     PUR

2004     USA      PUR      MEX

2006     USA      DOM     PUR

2008     USA      MEX      DOM

2010     USA      MEX      PUR

2012     USA      DOM     MEX