Costa Rica beat Aruba in warm-up match

ORANJESTAD, Aruba, May 19, 2013 – Costa Rica defeated Aruba in straight-sets (25-15, 25-12, 25-19) in the last match of the preliminary round of the NORCECA Second Round Group L Tournament, a qualifier to the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship in Poland.

Costa Rica finished with a 3-0 win-loss record and a total of 13 points while Aruba concluded at 2-1 and 7 points.

The contest served as a fine-tuner for both sides scheduled to play on Sunday night for the top place and the automatic ticket to the third round regional phase next year within NORCECA Confederation.

Richard Smith and Jose Pablo Zumbado had 16 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Central Americans while Eargenell De Cuba topped Aruba with 10 points.

Costa Rica held a big margin in blocks (12-2) with Smith contributing four. They also edged their opponents in aces 3-2.

“It was an easy game for us since Aruba was reserving energy for tonight’s match,” Costa Rica Coach Cesar Salas said. “I rotated my players during the whole match to have them fine-tuned. We showed great aggressiveness in our attacks.”

“My problem is that many of my players were a little bit sore from last night,” Aruba Coacj John van der Lee expressed. “I did a lot of changes to use reserve players. The main objective was to prepare the team for tonight.”