Puerto Rico crushes St. Lucia in opening match

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 24, 2014- Puerto Rico crushed St. Lucia 3-0 (25-6, 25-8, 25-5) in the opening match of the Girls’ U-18 NORCECA Championship at Gimnasio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica.

St. Lucia couldn’t control Puerto Rico’s strong serves and had no chance to turn things around against a clearly superior opponent

Puerto Rico held a huge advantage of 30-3 in kills and 17-0 in service points, they were also better in the blocking category by 5-2. Puerto Rico took advantage of 23 St. Lucia’s errors.

The only player with double digits, Alejandra Negron with 12 points, led Puerto Rico’s victory, with 3 aces included. Outside spikers Paola Salas and Kariema Rodriguez contributed with 7 points apiece.

“I am very excited and a little nervous” stated Puerto Rico’s Captain Alejandra Negron. “Our team showed power today and it looks like we’re ready to advance”.

Sky Mondesir, St. Lucia’s captain said her team has no international experience. “My teammates were nervous and I feel disappointed with how we performed, we usually don’t play as bad as we did and our reception was off today”.

Coach Javier Cruz of Puerto Rico said: “The team feels more confident when they begin winning. I hope the players can maintain their concentration to continue moving on and improving everyday”.

“The whole team was very nervous, I agree with Skye about our reception being off today and this is something we must work on as well as other mistakes. Puerto Rico exploited their serves and destroyed us,” said Coach Keam Charlery of St. Lucia.