Costa Rica with first victory at NORCECA U-20

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, July 9, 2014.- Costa Rica earned their first victory at the Women’s U-20 NORCECA Continental Championship defeating Martinique 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25- 5) in Pool B.

Costa Rica with more skills to show took a considerable easy victory in their debut in the tournament, while Martinique has a 0-2 win-loss record.

The Central American team took advantage of Martinique’s 32 unforced errors, they held advantage in spikes by a 28-9 margin, and definitely harmed the Caribbean team with their efficient serves by a 14-3 margin.

Opposite Tatiana Sayles led Costa Rica scorers with 10 points all in kills, middle blockers Maria Alfaro and Melissa Rodriguez contributed with 8 and 6 points respectively, and outside hitter Tania Carazo chipped in with 6 points. Martinique’s top scorer was outside hitter Laetitia Nivan with 5 points.

“Our mistakes were mostly in the first two sets, while in the third set our performance was as it should have been the entire match as we pushed harder with our serves” said captain Tatiana Sayles of Costa Rica.

“After yesterday’s loss we wanted to do things better and it didn’t work out as we gave up too early in the match. We really didn’t do anything to save ourselves” said Martinique’s captain Maelle Paulin.

For coach Martin Rodriguez winning a first match gives the team confidence “I know we are all glad with the win, but our performance had too many unforced errors and we can’t play this way if we want to advance further in the tournament. For us, the most important match is tomorrow against Guatemala and we must do better”.

“I am sorry we haven’t played as expected, we play better back home than we have here. The team is missing players and we’ve had to adjust our lineup hoping for the best. Costa Rica was better than us in many aspects, I congratulate them” said coach Tania Villeronce.