Venezuela will play for fifth place at Barranquilla

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 24, 2018.- Venezuela defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-13) in a classification match for fifth place at the women’s volleyball tournament of the 2018 Barranquilla XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games at Humberto Perea Colliseum.

It was a match with little intensity from both sides. Venezuela will play for fifth place against the winner between Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.

Venezuela prevailed with little resistance from Costa Rica, with 36-23 margin in spikes, 4-2 in blocks and 9-1 in service points. The winners scored on 26 Costa Rican errors, allowing 14 points on their unforced errors.

Wing spiker Nelmaira Valdez topped Venezuela with 13 points; teammates Yordalys Burguillos (9pts), Meriyen Serrano (8pts) and Winderlys Medina (8pts) accompanied her in the winning effort. Yuliana Gonzalez led Costa Rica with 9 points.

Nelmaira Valdez of Venezuela indicated “it was accessible comparing to our other performances. We controlled the actions and tomorrow we must be mentally prepared, concentrated and play calmly, giving our best effort. This is a young team, several of them will play the U-23 Pan American Cup, and this is Venezuela’s future”.

Costa Rican Yuliana Gonzalez said “it wasn’t our accustomed rhythm, we’ve had difficulties adjusting as a team. I believe we are improving with each day and we are focused on being at our best for the Central American championship in two weeks. This is a learning experience for each of us and as a team, it’s a highly competitive tournament for us to improve, grow and add. The national team has changed entirely and we hope to be united as a team and with the coaching staff”.

Ihosvani Chamber head coach of Venezuela thinks Costa Rica is the most accessible here “we were persistent, we weren’t over confident because there is no easy opponent. Venezuela did a good job, not with the same intensity as the previous matches; some players rested today and now we must wait and see if we will face Cuba again”.

For Cesar Salas head coach of Costa Rica, his team should have done better, “we are committing the same errors than before, we had already limited the amount of errors, but today their performance was shy. I believe we could have won maybe 1 or 2 sets and make some damage to Venezuela. Costa Rica is in a difficult phase, it’s been hard, it’s the price of a generation change, incorporating new blood. We don’t lose hope, we will continue to fight and believe in what we are doing”.