Τετάρτη 23 Σεπτεμβρίου 2009

Cuba, USA, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico off to winning starts


Defending champions Cuba, United States, Dominican Republic and hosts Puerto Rico opened the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship with victories at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum on Tuesday.
The winner of the biennial competition will earn a berth at the FIVB Grand Champions Cup next November in Japan.
Cuba needed four sets to defeat Costa Rica, while USA, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico enjoyed straight-set wins over Mexico, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago, respectively.
The Cubans recorded a 3-1 (25-14, 25-10, 22-25, 25-20) victory over the Costa Ricans in the second match of Pool B. It was the first time in history that Costa Rica took a set from Cuba.
Yusidey Silie and Kenia Carcaces each compiled 17 points for Cuba with Silie recording 4 blocks and 3 aces. Wilma Salas contributed 15 and Giselle Silva charted 11 tallies. Verania and Angela Willis had 12 and 9 points respectively for Costa Rica.
Cuba outscored Costa Rica 10-3 in blocks and 13-9 in aces but gave away 33 points to errors compared to 20 by the losers.
USA scored a straight-sets 25-18, 25-10, 25-13 victory over a young team from Mexico in the opening match of Pool B.
Nancy Metcalf and Cynthia Barboza led USA with 11 and 10 points and Jordan Larson tallied 9 points. Olivia Meza and Cecilia Rios each had 8 points for Mexico.
The bigger Americans erased a two-point deficit at 15-13 in the first set and never looked back. They dominated 6-1 in serving aces and 5-1 in blocks.
Dominican Republic defeated Canada in consecutive frames by a score of 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 in the first Pool A match.
Prisilla Rivera and Milagros Cabral topped the Dominican offense with 15 and 12 points respectively and Lisvel Eve and Altagracia Mambru added 9 and 8. Tammy Mahon and Tiffany Dodds charted 15 and 11 points for Canada.
Puerto Rico capped the opening day with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 win over Trinidad & Tobago in front of around 2,500 fans.
Puerto Rico blanked its opponent 7-0 in the aces category and also took advantage of 33 errors made by Trinidad & Tobago.
Sarai Alvarez led Puerto Rico with 14 points, followed by Tatiana Encarnacion and Aurea Cruz with 8 and 7 respectively. Kelly-Anne Billingy had 10 points for the losers and Krystle Esdelle contributed 9 tallies.

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