Trinidad & Tobago claims first victory

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, July 5, 2011 - Trinidad & Tobago scored its first victory at the 10th Pan American Women’s Cup by defeating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-22).

As round robin in Pool B finished, Trinidad & Tobago celebrated its first victory registering a 1-4 win-loss record. Trinidadians came from behind in the first set (1-8) and crushed Costa Ricans from there on. Costa Rica ends up with 0-5 mark.

Three players of Trinidad & Tobago scored in double digits: Krystle Esdelle with 20, Channon Thompson with 15 and Kelly-Anne Billingy with 13. Karen Cope with 10 points was the best for Costa Rica.

Krystle Esdelle said excited: “We began a little bit shaky, but we concentrated and believed in ourselves to prove everyone wrong, we are very glad to have won.”

“At the beginning we had confidence but Trinidad outplayed us with a more simple game and we made things complicated,” said a disappointed Karen Cope of Costa Rica.

Francisco Cruz, Trinidad’s coach pointed out: “Usually Costa Rica has beaten Trinidad, but we focused in keeping the girls calmed and pushed Costa Rica to score their own points and not by our mistakes; I believe we benefit from the teams we faced previously.”

For Costa Rica, Braulio Godinez expressed: “During the tournament Trinidad came from less to more and we weren’t well prepared for the cup”.