Puerto Rico to meet Dominican Republic in the finals

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, July 22, 2010 – Puerto Rico advanced to a clash with Dominican Republic for the gold medal of women’s volleyball at the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games after a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-16) win over Costa Rica on Thursday. The only time these two teams faced each other in the Games’ final match was in the Jamaica’s edition in 1962 with the victory for the Dominican side.

The home team, who had a 12-4 advantage in blocks, was led by Aury Cruz with 15 points and Sarai Alvarez and Karina Ocasio with 13 apiece. Karen Cope and Verania Willis each scored 7 for Costa Rica.

“Today we had better rhythm and we hope to minimize our service errors for tomorrow’s game against Dominican Republic,” Puerto Rican Vilmarie Mojica said. “The key should be to stop their attack down the middle.”

“The match for the bronze medal against Trinidad & Tobago won’t be easy but we are going to try hard,” Costa Rican Verania Willis said. “We are satisfied with our match against Puerto Rico and hope to play the same in tomorrow’s match.”