MIAMI, Fla. (June 26, 2009)
– The United States began the Eighth Women’s Pan
American Cup with a convincing 25-7, 25-6, 25-16
victory over Costa Rica on Friday evening at the
University of Miami’s BankUnited Center.
Jordan Larson led all scorers with 14 points for
the United States, while Nancy Metcalf added 11
points. Kristin Richards contributed nine points
for Team USA. Middle blockers Heather Bown and
Danielle Scott-Arruda chalked up seven and six
points, respectively.
Verania Willis Lindo scored a total of seven
points to pace Costa Rica and teammate Onikca
Pinnock Gibbons added three points.
The U.S. limited Costa Rica to only 13 points in
the first two sets combined. However, Costa Rica
came back in the third set to lead 8-4 before
allowing six unanswered points to the U.S.
“This was a nice start to the tournament,” U.S.
Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “Costa Rica is
a good team, and it showed in the third set. I
was glad to see that we managed the game well in
the first two sets.”
“My compliments to the Costa Rica team,”
Scott-Arruda said. “They fought hard to the end.
Any time you win 3-0 is good, but we need to
work on minimizing our errors. It was good to
play at home.”
“Congratulations to USA,” Willis Lindo said.
“They had a great match. Costa Rica always has
problems without practicing to come to
tournaments like this. In the third set, we
started to play a little better as a team.” |