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. |