Mexico crushed Costa Rica

 

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 21, 2007.- This match will likely go to the wire. Both teams believe they are capable of wining this match and finishing this event in 5^th or 6^th position. They are very similar teams with respect to their current situation. Both teams are boasting young players and are is a re-building stage of their respective programs. A strong finish at this event would go a long way for either of these teams.

 

It was evident early on that Costa Rica was here to play as they took a demanding 6-0 lead in the opening set. Mexico has gotten a couple on the board by the first technical time out but continued to trail 8-2. Mexico slowly began creeping their way back into the set, however, thy still trailed 16-10 by the mid-way point of the set. Capitalizing on some Costa Rican unforced errors, Mexico would come within two, but it did not take long for that gap to widen to five points with Costa Rica leading 20-15. Mexico would not recover dropping set one 25-18.

 

Mexico came out in set two with a little more fire taking the early lead only to find themselves down 8-7 at the first official time out. In a quick change of events, Mexico seemed to find their stride and leaped to a 16-12 lead by the second official time out. From there they maintained control to win the set 25-15.

 

After a couple lop-sided results in set one and two, the third set started off more like what everyone expected to see in this match. Mexico led 8-6 at the first time out and was able to increase it to 16-12 by the second. The 4-point cushion was more than enough as Costa Rica would not be able to catch the Mexicans who took set three 25-17.

 

Costa Rica after being up 2-0, found themselves down 8-7 at the first time out and quickly down 11-7 shortly there after. However, they rallied back to tie the set at 15-15 and took the lead 16-15 at the mid-way point. The lead would not stand, as Mexico would come out and score three unanswered point to regain the lead at 18-16. This time, they would hold onto the lead to win the set and the match 25-21.

 

Post Match Quotes:

Team Costa Rica

Paola Ramirez- Captain

“I think the match was very tough, we knew coming in it would be tough. We played well the first set, but the other three we were not able to communicate amongst each other. Our reception was bad and generally we played into Mexico’s hands. Tomorrow we look forward to our match against winning our match against Trinidad.”

 

Eladio Vargas- Head Coach

“We have played Mexico a number of times this year, and when we left Costa Rica we knew that if we played Mexico we would have a chance to win. The idea that we could win added pressure on our players, so we had a very good set, but in the second and third we could not deal with the pressure that Mexico put on us. They played much better then us in the second and we could not control them. I tried to talk to my players to help them relax. We started well in the fourth, but Mexico was able to come back. We were able to deal with some of the pressure to narrow the gap, but we were not able to make the plays to win the game. I congratulate the Mexican coach, I have know him for a while now and I look forward to learning from him.”

 

Team Mexico

Migdalel Ruiz – Captain

“I think Costa Rica has been playing us very well the past several tournaments. They are increasing their competition level. I think in the first set they served very well, a direct service, and we were not able to control their serve. In the next three sets we came out to improve our service and attack. We were able to do what we came here to do and that was to defeat Costa Rica. We must continue our work and prepare ourselves for the Olympic qualifier in Mexico.”

 

Macario Gonzalez - Head Coach

“Mexico and Costa Rica are brother with the same pain. We both have a lot of problems training and keeping athletes together, transition problems, etc. Mexico won, because we had three veteran players that were able to handle the pressure and compensate for the ups and downs of the young players. We came out playing very basic volleyball. We were unable to run combinations like Costa Rica. The experience of our veteran players mixed with the fighting spirit of the young players made the difference. Tomorrow against Puerto Rico we will leave everything on the floor, this is a very important match and we must give everything.”