JUANA DIAZ, Puerto Rico, May 10, 2023.- The United States beat Costa Rica 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-12) in their second strong win at the Girls’ U19 NORCECA Pan American Cup in Puerto Rico.
United States is 2-0 and will close the preliminary round against Mexico for a direct ticket into Saturday’s semifinals. Costa Rica goes against the U.S. Virgin Islands for a chance to advance into quarterfinals.
The U.S. controlled the actions with their powerful serves 15-2 and a huge 30-11 advantage in attacks; they also led 7-4 in blocks. United States committed 21 unforced errors and Costa Rica a total of 28.
Outside hitter Julia Blyashov scored seven points as the U.S. best scorer, followed by outside hitter Kaci Demaria and middle blocker Calissa Minatee with six points each.
Opposite hitter Angélica Rodríguez led Costa Rica with five points and outside hitter Joselyn Moraga added four points.
Ava Falduto, libero of United States: “Costa Rica started the sets stronger, and our team is very new playing together, we’ve been training only one and a half weeks, so we are still trying to come together. I think we’ve doing a great job and our communication was rocky in the beginning, but it will step up as we keep playing together. I believe communication will be a huge part of our success in the next performances. We’re learning every time we step on the court together and we’ve done a great job playing together and for each other, our goal tomorrow is to close the preliminary round with another strong win”.
Rashanny Solano, libero of Costa Rica: “Today was about learning for us because the United States is a strong team. We are adjusting better as a team for tomorrow’s match which is really important to advance into the next round. I am confident that my team tomorrow will play well and the key will be the confidence in our game play, the energy; both teams are Caribbean and it will be a close battle”.
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