Cuba and Dominican Republic are unbeaten in Colombia 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 17, 2006.- Cuba and Dominican Republic, the two favorites teams to battle for the women’s gold medal at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games, have perfect records after two days of play.

Cuba defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-16) and leads Pool A, while Dominican Republic beat Colombia also 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-21) and sits in first place in Pool B.

Kenia Carcaces led Cuba with 12 points and Rachel Sanchez added 9 as Coach Felipe Calderon rested veterans Yumilka Ruiz and Zoila Barros during the whole match. Angela and Verania Willis had 8 and 7 respectively for Costa Rica (0-2).

“Costa Rica is a team with a lot of potential but they need to train together for a longer period,” said Calderon.

Annerys Vargas was the top Dominican scorer with 11 points and Milagros Cabral and Cosiris Rodriguez each had 9. Jessica Angulo led Colombia (1-1) with 12 points.

“The best of the Dominican team is still to be seen,” said Cabral, while Coach Miguel Beato Cruz added that “tonight we won the match at the net.”

In the second match of the evening, Venezuela defeated Barbados in straight sets (25-14, 26-24, 25-17), improving its record to 1-1 while the Bajans fell to 0-2 in Pool B.

Desiree Glod was the top scorer for Venezuela with 20 points, while Aleoscar Blanco and Caroline Orozco contributed with 15 and 11 respectively. Shari Matthews had 12 for Barbados.

In Pool A, Puerto Rico beat Mexico 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-16) and both teams are tied in second place with 1-1 records.

Aury Cruz had an excellent night with 17 points and her sister Eva Cruz added 11. Claudia Rodriguez was the best of Mexico with 9 points.

“Tonight was different than the day before because we kept our game at a high level while yesterday we had a lot of up and downs,” stated Aury Cruz.

Pool A: Cuba (2-0), Puerto Rico (1-1), Mexico (1-1) and Costa Rica (0-2). Pool B: Dominican Republic (2-0), Venezuela (1-1), Colombia (1-1) and Barbados (0-2).