Powerhouse Costa Rica beat the underdog Belize in XVI Women’s Central American Cup opener
The seven-nation Women’s Volleyball event is currently taking place in Panama City this week. The XVI Women’s Central American Cup kicked off on November 28th and is scheduled to reveal the final results on December 4, 2010. In the first two days, 6 matches
were played among the participating teams (Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, and El Salvador). The defending champion Costa Rica opened the tournament with their first match on the second day. They were challenged by Belize, a struggling
young team in the squad this year. Costa Rica outplayed Belize in straight sets. The match covered its length in only 55 minutes.
Costa Rica vs. Belize 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, and 25-13)
Costa Rica opened the match in great style. They played their natural game and stayed calm. Belize was tagged as the underdogs and it was an easy task for the stronger Costa Rican side to snatch victory from them. After the first whistle from the referee,
the Costa Rican players started and never stopped and demonstrated great skills in the game. Costa Rica picked up a strong lead in the early phase of the game and moved ahead with the same velocity. Belize’s team struggled to poise their feet on the court
but Costa Rica’s hard hitting created a lot of trouble for them. Costa Rica showed no mercy and continued the attack. They stretched the gap of points and quickly finished the first set by posting 25-11.
The younger side of Belize entered the second set with new ambitions. The discussed their defense flaws during the vital timeout. The head coach of Belize instructed the team to stay united and put a combined effort against Costa Rica. On the other hand,
the defending champion team was in great rhythm after comfortably winning in the first set. The opening set was a kind of warm-up session for them. They returned to the game in the second set and attacked with more ferocity. They wanted to quickly put an end
to the game and see the face of triumph. Belize’s team tried hard to get recognition in the game but Costa Rica plainly rejected their status. The situation did not improve for Belize; instead, they suffered more damage in the second set. The deadly spikes
and cut shots of the Costa Rican wing spiker didn’t allow Belize to gain stability in the game. Costa Rica completed the run in the second set by leaps and bounds. They claimed the set by polling 25-9.
The prospects of the Costa Rican victory became prominent after the completion of an early two sets. Belize’s team totally lost any level of momentum in the third set. Costa Rica worked out great progress and ended the third set by posting 25-13. Belize
failed to build any reputation in the match. Nonetheless, playing with an experienced team created an opportunity for them to learn new things.
Top-scorer category
Verania Willis devastated Belize with her killer spikes and contributed 16 points to her team’s score. Following the footstep of her team captain, Karen Cope also worked out great progress in the match and clipped 10 points for Costa Rica. Barbara Cadle
was the top-scorer of Belize who scored 6 points.
Post-match comments
The captain of Costa Rican team, Verania Willis expressed delight about the good start to the tournament. She commented, “We come to play every match with the same mentality, thinking about every point in favor or against. We want to win the tournament and
are going to give no respite.”
Jazmine Anderson of the unsuccessful squad praised the better players of Costa Rica. She said, “We played relaxed since we knew the opponent we were facing. We enjoyed the match and celebrated each point we managed to win.”
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