Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago win on day-3 of NORCECA Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Third day of the 2012 NORCECA Men’s Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament brought a better luck for two teams, which bagged opening victories.
Puerto and team from Trinidad & Tobago finally broke the ice and defeated their respective opponents on day-3 of the tournament. Puerto Rican team held off Dominican Republic for 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-16) victory, while T&T downed Costa Rica by posting 25-18,
25-23, 25-19 on board. Both winning teams performed amazingly well and finished their matches in straight sets. The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California hosted the match, where good number of volleyball fans showed up for the support of their favourite
teams.
After losing the first two matches in row, Puerto Rico displayed a wonderful effort in the third match of the preliminary round-robin. Four of Puerto Rican players reached the double-figure score. Ezequiel Cruz Lozada topped the scorers with 13 points, while
Juan Figueroa charted 12 points. Likewise, Roberto and Jose were credited for 11 and 10 points in the match. None of Dominican players could cross the single-digit score. Elnis Palomino Castillo contributed the team-high nine points in Dominican’s score.
“I am happy with the victory,” Puerto Rico Coach Carlos Cardona said. “We needed to win this match for the playoffs. It helps our hopes for the future. We had a good game. We are improving little by little. There was an opportunity for everybody to play
without the pressure of winning. It was a good performance.”
“Puerto Rico looked much superior to Dominican team,” Dominican Republic Assistant Coach Hector Romero Medina said. “We had problems in the Dominican; some important players didn’t have visas to get in. Other players couldn’t come because of family trouble.”
Elsewhere Trinidad & Tobago had a close competition with Costa Rica. Marc Honore emerged as the top weapon for Trinidad & Tobago. He led the team in the front row and totalled match-high 17 points. The skipper of T&T Nolan Tash also exhibited a stellar performance.
He chipped in 13 points and guided his team to a splendid win. Richard Smith Hall of Costa Rica came into stride with T&T players and managed to claim 11 points.
The match between Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago was full of errors. Both teams gave out many points on attack and reception errors. Nonetheless, Trinidad & Tobago clawed its way to victory.
With success on day-3, Trinidad & Tobago improved to an overall record of 1-2 and qualified for the quarter-finals. Costa Rica finished the pool-play of 2012 NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament with devastating 0-3 record and moved to Classification
round of 5-8 positions.
Trinidad & Tobago qualified for the quarter-finals from Pool A, while Puerto Rico earned the same status in Pool B of the tournament.
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