USA win NORCECA U-20 Bronze and qualify to FIVB WCH

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, August 26, 2012 - USA captured the last NORCECA ticket to the FIVB 2013 World Championship winNing over Costa Rica by 3-0 (25-18 , 25-14 , 25-22) for the bronze medal at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Championship.

Costa Rica did well, in the first they tied it at 18 points and most of the third set they were up in the score but couldn’t keep it up. The top scorer for the Americans was Azariah Stahl with 11 points and Haleigh Washington scored 9. On the Costa Rican side, Angie Montero topped with 8 points.

For USA, Kelsey Humphreys was sincere in saying that they underestimated Costa Rica. “We didn’t have our full focus, our pass-offense broke down but gladly we took control of the match.”

Angie Montero Costa Rica’s captain was satisfied with her team´s performance. “Costa Rica can do better and be more but learning comes slowly.”

“This is a young team and for some of them it’s their first international experience; it’s definitely a positive result because we qualified to the world championship and I gave all the players opportunity today but Cost Rica was at a high level that I had to bring back my regular players,” said USA’s coach Rodney Wilde.

Andres Carvajal coach for Costa Rica began congratulating his team because they applied very well today. “The system was still the same with some adjustments and the team responded to USA’s higher game level; what we learned in the previous work made in Costa Rica remains and with a good structure and better planning we can hope for improvement.”