Mexico opens strong against Honduras

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 25, 2014- Mexico blanked Honduras 3-0 (25-9, 25-8, 25-7) in their debut in Pool B of the Girls’ U-18 NORCECA Continental Championship in the last match of Day Two.

Mexico’s first appearance definitely confirmed their intentions to battle for one of the three spots available for the World Championship as they are strong candidates to reach the finals here in San Jose.

Mexico out-blocked Honduras 7-1; they held a 13-2 margin in aces and a huge advantage in attacks by 32-7. They committed 14 errors while Honduras made 23.

Outside hitter Kathya Garcia scored 15 points in the winning cause, with 5 aces included. Mexico used all their players as their offensive line was unstoppable by Honduras.

Mexican captain Francia Sanchez expressed her satisfaction for opening strong. “We are here to battle into the finals and starting off like we did it really motivates us in reaching our goal. The team’s moral and the support from our coaches was crucial elements for our purpose”.

“Our Pool is a tough one and we’ve been challenged in both matches; the team is eager to continue our development” said Honduras’ captain Miriam Lobo.

Mexico’s coach Ricardo Naranjo said to be satisfied with his team’s performance “we’ve only had two weeks of preparation and the results are very good; we really didn’t know what to expect from our players due to the fact that this is their first international experience and sometimes fear plays an important role.” About tomorrow’s match against USA he said “our strategy is to play fast, they are the favorites here and it’s no surprise to see players with big height; we’ll bet on dismantling their reception with our serves”.

“If the players want to continue practicing volleyball this is the perfect opportunity to show them how hard they have to work. We had an idea that Mexico was going to be offensive so in today’s practice we concentrated in our defense. The team is too young to push them harder” indicated Coach Catarine Lizeth.