Costa Rica edge TTO for ninth place

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, July 19, 2012 – Costa Rica defeated Trinidad & Tobago in five sets (25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-6) to finish in ninth place at XI Women’s Pan American Cup.

Costa Rica’s Verania Willis recorded 14 and Karen Cope 13, while Angela Willis and Paola Ramirez concluded with 10 apiece.

Krystle Esdelle and Kelly Ann Billingy each scored 16 points and Channon Thompson finished with 12 for Trinidad & Tobago.

For Esdelle this match “was well played by Costa Rica. We fought but the better team won. The tournament helped a lot to learn and prepare for future competitions”.

Meanwhile, Verania Willis said her team is happy after a long battle against the Trinidadians.

“We struggled but played with order against their attack, we had also a good sense of location and we solved it,” she said.

Francisco Cruz remarked: “I think the match was won by the team who made the fewer mistakes, we lost it with a lot of errors, almost 37, but have to keep on working one more year.”

Costa Rica’s coach Xavier Perales stated: “We had to find our rhythm of game, we were lucky enough in the fifth set to find it, and also the balance to avoid errors, that was the key”.