Mexico and Puerto Rico complete the final four in Colombia 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 19, 2006.- Mexico and Puerto Rico completed the four semifinalists of the women’s tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games joining Cuba and Dominican Republic in the final four phase.

Mexico will play against Cuba after a 3-0 win (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) over Venezuela, and Puerto Rico will meet Dominican Republic after a victory in straight sets over Colombia (25-21, 25-16, 25-19).

Ana Mercado was the star for Mexico with 17 points, combined with Bibiana Candelas and Claudia Rodriguez who had 13 apiece. Veronica Gomez and Desiree Glod had 11 and 10 for Venezuela.

Once again, Aury Cruz and Karina Ocasio led the Puerto Rican offense with 13 and 10 points respectively, and Jessica Angulo was tops for Colombia with 13.

“We were coming of playing two very strong teams and it helped to raise our game,” said Marco Heredia, the Mexican coach. “Since the start of the tournament, we knew this match against Venezuela was going to be very important in our medal hopes, so we prepared very well for it.”

“We could not react against the attack of our opponents and the anxiety and inexperience of our younger players was a factor,” said Tomas Fernandez, the coach of Venezuela.

“It is going to be like some kind of revenge,” said Puerto Rican coach Juan Carlos Cruz in reference to the recent loss to Dominican Republic at the Pan American Cup. “The two teams know each other very well and the pressure will be on them because they are considered the favorites.”

“We need to play our game and keep the concentration,” said Aury Cruz. “It should be a great match. They are coming from a 3-0 victory against us but the encounter was close.”

In the match for the seventh place, Costa Rica defeated Barbados 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-18) with Verania and Angela Willis each scoring 13 points, while Shari Matthews also had 13 for Barbados.