Cuba finishes seventh place at Barranquilla CACG

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 25, 2018. - Cuba finished in seventh place of the women’s volleyball tournament of the 2018 Barranquilla XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games after defeating Costa Rica 3-1 (25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 25-12) al Humberto Perea Colliseum.

Cuba earned the victory after dropping a set lacking energy and their accustomed strength. Cuba finishes the Games with 1-4 record and Costa Rica with 0-4.

Cuba beat Costa Rica with comfortable 49-36 advantage in spikes, with huge 14-3 margin in blocks and 8-5 in service points. Cuba committed 25 errors and Costa Rica 27.

Opposite player Kitania Medina of Cuba was the best scorer with 19 points. Setter Gretell Morana and middle blocker Laura Suarez added 10 points for Cuba. Opposite player Daniela Vargas of Costa Rica scored 13 points, joined by wing spiker Yuliana González with 9 points.

Diaris Pérez of Cuba said “this tournament is a learning experience because we had a bad performance. You learn from your errors and we must use this example for future competitions. We committed too many errors which can be limited with practice and we are in the best position to continue our preparation”.

Head coach Wilfredo Robinson of Cuba said to be sad “it was a shameful tournament. Last week we had a good performance at the Pan American Cup as preparation for the Games to reach our goal of winning the bronze medal or finish in fourth place. We did not accomplish our plans. I am more ashamed of beating Costa Rica, than losing to Venezuela”.

Daniela Vargas of Costa Rica, who plays at college level in United States, said “it is a very important task winning a set to Cuba, not only because it’s our only set of the event, but we are happy of the way we fought but not satisfied with the result. The team must continue working to play together, this was a difficult tournament and we must practice harder”.

Cesar Salas head coach of Costa Rica indicated “our strategy in the set we won worked out well, my players deserved to win it because they followed instructions and we made some variations. As a conclusion, Costa Rica is building and working in a transition phase, the players who are here have made a good effort; there are more back home who are also part of the program. The ones who are not practicing are the ones who don’t want to be part of this process; we will continue to work with young players and we will continue to grow”.