Puerto Rico beats St. Lucia in straight sets

MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico, August 29, 2011.- Puerto Rico beat St. Lucia in straight sets (25-11, 25-17, 25-11) in the last match of opening day at the Men’s NORCECA Championship on Monday.

Puerto Rico showed superiority over first time contestants in a NORCECA championship, St. Lucia, and had the chance to give an opportunity to some of its players to drop the pressure that a first match may cause.

With 8 points each, Roberto Muñiz, Enrique Escalante and Sequiel Sanchez were the best players for Puerto Rico. For St. Lucia, Jason Octave was the top scorer with 9 points and Julian Bisstte added 8.

“We knew St. Lucia was going to give resistance and this helps us to prepare for future matches, as some of us are out of shape; we did some things well and some badly so we must have our minds set on winning” indicated Victor Rivera, Puerto Rico’s captain.

Jason Octave, St Lucia’s captain expressed “we haven’t been around these tournaments and it was a good match for us, we hope to do much better.”

“This is an important experience for St. Lucia, we were cautions because we didn’t know what to expect and always the first match in a tournament is difficult” said Puerto Rico’s coach, Carlos Cardona from Argentina.

Kendall Charlery of St. Lucia spoke of the opportunity to build his team, “we are very happy to be here among the top teams of the region, we want to take back home what we learn here and build for the future.”