Costa Rica earns second straight win at AFECAVOL Cup

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, December 6, 2014 - Costa Rica earned their second straight win at the XVIII Men’s Central American Cup after defeating Nicaragua 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-13) at Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.

Costa Rica dominated Nicaragua without complications in the first and third sets; in the second set, Nicaragua’s offensive line with Tito Valdivia was unstoppable. For Costa Rica the second straight set win grants them five more points, for a total of ten. Nicaragua has a 0-2 win-loss record and zero points.

Costa Rica held a 36-30 advantage in kills, and 10-5 in blocking and 7-0 in service points.

Captain Richard Smith of Costa Rica said: “We are moving one step at a time, one match at a time; the team did a good job today by correcting yesterday’s mistakes. As the tournament advances, the team will have a better rhythm in the final phase”.

Captain Jorge Toledo of Nicaragua noted: “The team showed improvement from yesterday’s performance, what we’re still missing is consistency; we can’t keep up the same game level. We were expecting resistance from Honduras and Costa Rica; I believe our next opponents will be more accessible”. 

“The team is improving, we adjusted things we saw yesterday against El Salvador and we focused on controlling them today against Nicaragua. It was difficult to block Tito, in fact he scored every time, and this is something we need to correct as our blocking must be a basic skill.  On Sunday, we rest and on Monday we’ll face Guatemala, it’ll be like a final match,” indicated Coach Cesar Salas of Costa Rica.

Coach Osman Hernandez expressed: “The team played with more decision today, but in the end we failed. Tito has been vital for the team, but we don’t have another outside hitter that can solve. We congratulate Costa Rica and Richard Smith who played very well”.