Costa Rica opens defeating Trinidad & Tobago

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 24, 2014- The host country Costa Rica opened the Girls’ U-18 Championship defeating Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-14) in the first day of actions at Gimnasio Nacional of San Jose.

Costa Rica suffered a scare in the first set with Trinidad & Tobago taking the lead by 12-5 but with consistency and self-control they were able to turn the score around. From there on the roles switched and Costa Rica was able to finish strong.

Costa Rica took advantage of 33 errors by their opponents, against 10 of their own. Costa Rica held a 29-26 advantage in successful attacks and 7-5 in blocking. Trinidad & Tobago was superior in service points by 9-6.

Oposite Tamara Espinoza of Costa Rica led Costa Rica’s scorers with 11 points, 10 in kills and she was joined by middle blocker Mariana Rodriguez with 9 points and spiker Fabiola Quiros with 8. For Trinidad & Tobago, spiker Reann Young scored a match high with 16 points, along with 13 points by middle blocker Kaylon Cruickshank.

“The pressure of being hosts was difficult to manage in the first set, but slowly we gained confidence and started to play more comfortable, amending our mistakes especially in our defense” said captain Mariana Solano.

Reann Young, captain of Trinidad & Tobago indicated “the team started off strong but we lost energy, our reception broke down and we weren’t able to comeback”.

Costa Rican coach Martin Rodriguez said “it’s difficult for such young players to deal with the pressure of a highly competitive tournament and being the host, I expected a more dynamic performance. Step by setp our serves were better and the efficiency in the rest of our skills improved. The most important element in this victory was the intelligence of the girls”.

Coach Macsood Ali of Trinidad & Tobago expressed his anger towards the result, “we were on top most of the first set, but Costa Rica wanted the win more than we did and they played with heart. We had a strong attack but overall we didn’t play good volleyball and I’m upset because we can play a lot better”.