El Salvador adds a second victory in Group K

ST CROIX, Virgin Islands, May 25, 2013 – El Salvador bounced back to defeat hosts U.S. Virgin Islands 18-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 for its second victory of Saturday at the NORCECA Second Round Group K Qualification Tournament of the 2014 FIVB Women’s World Championship.

The Salvadorans meet St Vincent and Grenadines (1-1) on Sunday morning needing one more victory to advance to the finals and claim a ticket to the third round of regional competitions.

Diana Romero and Denisse Rogel each had 10 points for the winners while Adriana Flores added nine of her own. Valissa Brathwaite and Danielle Selkridge finished with 13 and 10 for the losers while Rhea Simon had eight.

.

El Salvador made 31 unforced errors compared to 55 by the home side. The losers held advantages of 7-2 in blocks and 5-2 in aces.

“We pressed them with our serves and didn’t make as many errors as in the morning match,” El Salvador’s Adriana Flores said. “After a slow start in the first set we were able to come back and improved a lot.”

“Mentally wise the communication wasn’t there after the first set,” U.S. Virgin Islands’ Sacha Gumbs explained. “They made smarter shots than us and we waited too long to make a push. You don’t want to be playing catch up all the time.”

Salvadoran coach Nery Henriquez boasted his satisfaction after playing what he considered the type of game his team is used to.

“Now we played the way El Salvador does,” he said. “We played with good combinations but it was against a strong opponent. It was a pretty good game so the fans were also winners.”

“After the first set we basically shut down and el Salvador played extremely well,” U.S. Virgin Islands coach Lucille Hobson said. “They came with a game plan and executed it. Tomorrow we need to beat British Virgin Islands to secure a spot in the third round.”