Mexico claims first victory in Pan American Cup

TIJUANA, Mexico, June 20, 2010 – Mexico recorded its first victory in Pool B of the Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup by defeating Costa Rica 3-1 (25-17, 15-25, 25-14, 25-14) on Sunday.

Samantha Bricio paced the Mexican offense with 20 points and Andrea Rangel added 16 tallies. Karla Sainz charted 10 while Claudia Rodriguez and Zaira Orellana each compiled 8 points. Verania Willis was the top Costa Rican scorer with 16 points.

“It was again a preparation match for us towards the U-20 Continental Championship where we will try to win a ticket to next year’s World Championship,” Mexican Jose Bernal said. “We have been working on trying to catch a good rhythm and this competition will help us.”

“We have a lot of young players in our team so they have been taking advantage of the opportunity to play at this level,” Costa Rican Braulio Godinez said. “We have had a couple of injuries and more young players are getting the chance to play.”