Cuba recovers from shaky start against Costa Rica

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 30, 2012 – Cuba overcame a slow start to defeat Costa Rica in straight-sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-6) for its second victory in Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament on Monday.

Cuba had a 13-6 advantage in the aces category and in the blocking department blanked the opposition 6-0. The match lasted just 61 minutes.

 Veteran Yanelis Santos had 11 aces among her 17 points for Cuba as she displayed her show of cannon-shot serves in the third set.  Wilma Salas recorded 10 points while the trio of Rosanna Giel, Yusidey Silie and Gyselle Silva contributed 7 apiece.

“They caught us off balance in the first set but we were able to adjust and counterattack,” Cuba’s Silie said. “We are very happy with the victory.”

“We played better than yesterday as we continue to adapt to our new coach’s system,” Costa Rica’s Verania Willis said. “We had a lot of difficulties with our passing but we must give credit to the serves of Santos.”

“They surprised us in the first set,”Cuba’s Juan Carlos Gala said. “It is the first time we play Costa Rica and had to make adjustments. We improved our serves after the second set and need to keep going.”

“Cuba improved its game from the second set on and once again we were left with the bad taste of a bad third set when the serves of one player created a lot of problems to the same rotation,” Costa Rica’s Coach Xavier Perales said.