Costa Rica wins unbeaten twelfth consecutive AFECAVOL title

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, October 12, 2014.- Costa Rica beat host Guatemala 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22) to win unbeaten their twelfth consecutive AFECAVOL title at the Women’s XVIII Central American Cup.

Actions were kept close during the first and second sets; as the third set developed, Costa Rica held an 8 point advantage which Guatemala came out of to tie the match at 18 points. Costa Rica showed strength in their offensive line with more height.

Costa Rica wins the gold medal with perfect record of 6-0 and a total of 28 points, while Nicaragua finishes with the silver medal with 5-1 record and 25 points; Guatemala captures the bronze medal with 4-2 record and 21 points.

The champions subdued Guatemala with advantage in kills (36-26) and a huge 11-5 margin in blocking. Guatemala held a 4-3 advantage in service points and committed fewer errors than Costa Rica (25-27).

Costa Rica’s offensive was led by opposite Paola Ramirez with 14 points, Angela Willis with 13 points and Verania Willis with 11 points. Blanca Recinos of Guatemala was again their top scorer with 10 points, joined by captain Diana Arias with 8 points.

Captain Angela Willis expressed “I am excited, Costa Rica performed according to the strategy traced by our coaches. We knew Guatemala would give us a hard time with the support from the crowd, but this only motivates us more because it gives us a challenge. We maximized our strength and confidence on the court. I thank God for this victory”.

“Guatemala did very well, we played intensely and we never gave up. It wasn’t an easy match nor an easy tournament but the team came thru united” said captain Diana Arias of Guatemala.

Costa Rica’s coach, Argentinian Horacio Bastit said to be satisfied with starting the re structure of Costa Rica’s  senior team “the younger players performed well during the tournament, this is necessary. Guatemala played with intensity, as we expected; the moment when a wrong distribution of the tactics was performed by us, Guatemala recovered from the advantage we had gained in the third set”.

Guatemalan coach David Aldana indicated “the combination between senior players and junior ones gave a good result, it’s a process and I’m satisfied with the performance today, they fought strong, but we won’t be able to improve our results without more support and preparation matches for other tournaments”.