Costa Rica struggles to beat Belize in five sets

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, August 8, 2016.- Costa Rica struggled to beat Belize 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 25-14, 19-25, 15-12)  on Monday at the AFECAVOL Women’s U23 Central American Championship in Gimnasio 7 de Diciembre Alfonso Gordillo of Guatemala City.

Reigning champion Costa Rica struggled in beating Belize; they were passive and out of bounce on numerous occasions. Belize had their momentum in the second set as their tall spikers avoided Costa Rica’s blocking to keep a five point advantage almost the entire set. The rhythm in set four was slow, with the score remaining close until Belize won with a combination of their serves and Costa Rica’s errors. Costa Rica took the lead in set five but Belize remained on a mission not making it any easier for Costa Rica to finish on top.

Costa Rica held advantage only in attacks 49-41, Belize in blocks 11-8 and in serves 9-6. Costa Rica scored on 41 errors of their opponents and committed 32.

Costa Rica’s offense was divided with 12 points by Tamara Espinoza and Monica Castro; Maria Fernanda Alfaro added 11 points and Yuliana Gonzalez 10. Maurissa Williams of Belize led all scorers with 22 points; Jahshema Saunders contributed with 14 points and Shynelle Glenn with 13 for the losing side.

On day four, Costa Rica (2-0) faces El Salvador (2-1) and Belize (0-3) meets Nicaragua (1-1).

Setter Yuliana González of Costa Rica congratulated Belize, “they took us by surprise, and they had a good match. We wanted to do things fast and we lost concentration”.

 “We did our best; the result is more than enough for my team. We played really hard and with a little more effort we could have won” When asked what went wrong she answered “our serves were off” indicated setter Leyia Hernandez of Belize.

Coach Braulio Godinez of Costa Rica said that Belize has improved a lot “their physical attributes were their best weapon, we weren’t able to damage with our serves because they received very well and in consequence, they spiked effectively, which our blocker couldn’t control. It was an even match”.

Coach Jack Reyes of Belize said a lot of things went well, “the girls wanted to put up a fight, the group worked real good, Costa Rica was playing slow, my girls really wanted to perform well and win at least one set”.