Long Beach, California, May 9, 2012 – Trinidad & Tobago
collected its first victory of the 2012 NORCECA Men’s
Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament Wednesday with a
25-18, 25-23, 25-19 victory over Costa Rica at the Walter
Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
Marc Honore led Trinidad & Tobago with 17 points, while captain
Nolan Tash contributed 13 points. Costa Rica was paced by
Richard Smith Hall’s 11 points.
Trinidad & Tobago out-blocked Costa Rica 11-3 in the victory.
Both teams committed a significant amount errors as Trinidad &
Tobago had 26 and Costa Rica 22.
With the victory, Trinidad & Tobago advances to the quarterfinal
round on Thursday after finishing Pool A with a 1-2 record.
Costa Rica finished Pool A with a 0-3 record and will face an
undetermined opponent on Friday during the Classification 5-8
round.
“Today was a better day for us on the court,” Trinidad & Tobago
captain Nolan Tash. “We are grateful for the victory. Costa Rica
kept us honest and kept the competitive level up. The last time
we played them, we won. We didn’t want that to change.”
“I just want to say it was a tough game for us against Costa
Rica,” Trinidad & Tobago Coach Gideon Dickson said. “If you look
at these scores, you will see that although we won the game,
Costa Rica increased in terms of points as compared to last time
we played. They are improving and we are also improving.”
“We lacked a lot in our concentration,” Costa Rica captain Pablo
Zumbado. “We were hoping to play better. We lacked the rhythm
and pace we were looking for. The block is big part of the game
that did not go as well as we planned.”
“One area we are trying to improve is the serve receive,” Costa
Rica Coach Cesar Salas said. “We don’t get to face serving as
strong in our zone. I think since the last NORCECA we are
improving. We’re going to keep working hard. These tournaments
are few and far between, but they are great opportunities to
improve. We’re going to keep learning and improving.”
