Puerto Rico to play Chile for U-18 fifth place

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 7 2011 - Puerto Rico defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-19) and will compete now for fifth place against Chile at the Girls U-18 Pan American Cup on Friday.

Kanisha Martinez registered 15 points, while Stephanie Massanet and Gabriela Varela scored 12 and 11 respectively for Puerto Rico. Yuliana Gonzalez scored 9 for Costa Rica, whose best rallies were on the third set.

“We faced a strong and taller team and missed some opportunities. If we had kept concentration, maybe we had played better”, said Gabriela Arias, captain of Costa Rica.

But according to Jizzyan Gesualdo, her team, Puerto Rico, also made some mistakes. “Mentally we also had them, but will try to make some adjustments and play better in our next match,” she mentioned.

Costa Rican coach, Luis Martin Rodrigez said: “We tried to give them some battle with our defense, but physically they made a big difference, and our central players are still learning.”

Central attack, reception and offensive service were keys to victory, remarked Puerto Rican coach, Eric Gonzalez.

“We did it in the first two sets and it worked, but the third was a little more complicated”.