TTO prevails over Costa Rica to play quarterfinals at Barranquilla

TTO prevails over Costa Rica to play quarterfinals at Barranquilla

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 22, 2018.- Trinidad and Tobago prevailed over Costa Rica 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-16) in the women’s volleyball tournament of the 2018 Barranquilla Central American and Caribbean Games at Humberto Perea Coliseum.

The score was really close the entire match, sometimes Trinidad and Tobago led and sometimes Costa Rica. Trinidad and Tobago used a different made several line-up variations, improving their performance up to set three.

Trinidad and Tobago prevailed mostly on huge 11-4 blocking advantage, with middle blocker Sinead Jack scoring five blocks, leading all scorers with 15 points. They also led in spikes 35-22 and service points 6-1. Trinidad and Tobago allowed 23 points on errors and Costa Rica 30.

Opposite player Esdelle Krystle also contributed in the winning effort with 8 points and wing spikers Darlene Ramdin and Channon Thompson tallied 7 points each. Yuliana Gonzalez led Costa Rica with 8 points and Tannia Carazo scored 7 points.

Trinidad and Tobago finishes pool-play with 1-2 record in third place and will play the quarterfinal round on Monday facing either Mexico or Dominican Republic. Costa Rica finishes with 0-3.

Top scorer Sinead Jack of Trinidad and Tobago said “we were really enjoying ourselves. We started really slowly and played to their game, but we regrouped as a team and fought strong to perform as we normally do. I trust in my team, in myself and the staff that we can reach the podium”.

Cuban Francisco Cruz, coach of Trinidad and Tobago expressed “we were expecting to reach the quarterfinal round. My team gets all mixed up because we don’t play at this level and they don’t have the skills to solve; when they face strong teams they perform well and when they play to teams with low level, they also perform at a low level. The first set was a disaster, the third set was easy”.

Cesar Salas, head coach of Costa Rica expressed he can’t be satisfied because they committed too many errors, “we could have won the first and second sets; our anxiousness was too much with the line-up changes they made in the third set, still we were on top on occasions. My team has improved; we must follow instructions better and limit our errors”.