Honduras punishes Anguilla in straight sets

ST AUGUSTINE, Trinidad, May 25, 2013:  Team captain Tessa Michelle Flores and her sister Dariana Flores combined for 23 points to lead Honduras to an easy 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-11) win in 62 minutes over Anguilla in their NORCECA Women’s Second Round Group I qualifier to the 2014 FIVB World Championship t the University of the West Indies Sports and Physical Educational Centre, St Augustine, on Saturday morning.

Tessa ended with a match-high 13 points, all kills while Dariana had nine kills in her tally of ten points for the 18th NORCECA ranked Hondurans, to join host T&T as winners of their opening match and five points at the top of the table.

 Anguilla, which only arrived in T&T late on Friday night due to travelling delays got a team high 12 points from captain, Susan Webster.

Speaking after the loss Webster said her team was still trying to recover from reaching the tournament so late.

She explained, “Personally, some of the younger players on the team are not use to that kind of travelling. It was an little bit tough on us, but at the same time I don’t think the match was a that difficult. We made it very difficult for ourselves.”

Torres, while happy her team started with the win says she expects her team to play better as the tournament goes on.

“We started off a bit too lazy while we are also still getting use to the playing venue, so with that in consideration it was good to get the victory,” added Torres.

Justus Connor, while lamenting on the fact his team had a tough travelling schedule said it was basically a lack of mental toughness that cost the team.

“I think our biggest obstacle out there on the court today was our mental state for the match. We have two more matches to play and we will go back to the drawing board, have some team discussions and work on strategies, but the players also have to get focus,” said Connor.

Marvin Ulloa, coach of the Honduras team echoed the views of his captain, saying, “We started out too slow, but as the match went out we began to get better and with two more matches I’m happy for the win.”

In Saturday’s second match of the first session, 18th ranked Honduras come up against 22nd ranked Anguilla.

On Saturday afternoon, in the second session, Anguilla and Barbados from 6pm followed by host T&T against Honduras at 8pm.

On Sunday, T&T meets Honduras in the first match of the day from 9am and two hours later, Barbados and Anguilla close out the round-robin group play , at the end of which the top two teams will qualify for the gold medal match on Sunday night from 8pm as well as the Third Round of NORCECA qualification to Italy.

The other two teams will play for third spot on Sunday from 6pm with the winner still in with a chance to qualify for Italy.

However, it will only do so, as the best ranked third placed team of all the six Second Round groups  on the NORCECA ranking on January 1, 2014.