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NORCECA Road to Poland continues in Aruba
ORANJESTAD, Aruba, May 14, 2013 – The second round of NORCECA
qualifiers towards the FIVB 2014 Men’s World Championship in
Poland continues in Oranjestad, Aruba with the second four-team
event of the year on May 18-19.
The NORCECA Group L will see teams from Antigua & Barbuda, Costa
Rica, Curacao and hosts Aruba battling for one spot to next
year’s third and final phase of tournaments. The second place
team remains in contention to advance but only as one of the
four best runner-ups of the six events scheduled on 2013.
The eighth-placed Costa Rica in NORCECA current rankings tops
the four units taking part in the event in Oranjestad which
promised to be entertaining and competitive.
Even though the Costa Ricans finished second to Guatemala (13th)
following a painful five-set loss at home in the Group L last
year, they should be considered as the team to beat given their
experience competing mainly at the Central American level.
Last March, hosts Costa Rica lost to Honduras also in five sets
in the match for the gold medal of the Central American Games.
Antigua & Barbuda reached the event after winning Group D and at
17th is the next best ranked. Curacao, second in Group A and
Aruba, third in Group E, are currently ranked 25th and 27th in
NORCECA, respectively.
Teams will compete under a round-robin format, playing two
matches on Saturday. The preliminary phase concludes on Sunday
morning session. Then, the top two placed sides will play for
the ticket to the third round while the third and fourth placed
teams will meet in a consolation match on Sunday evening.
The first of six events scheduled in 2013 was held in St Lucia
on April 27-28 where hosts St Lucians defeated Haiti for the
pass to the third round.
Competition Schedule
May 18
09:00 Curacao v Costa Rica
11:00 Aruba v Antigua & Barbuda
18:00 Antigua & Barbuda v Costa Rica
20:00 Aruba v Curacao
May 19
09:00 Antigua & Barbuda v Curacao
11:00 Aruba v Costa Rica
18:00 Third v Fourth
20:00 First v Second |
