QUEBEC CITY, CANADA. Sept. 03, 2023: Puerto Rico capped off the 2023 NORCECA Senior Women’s Volleyball Continental Championship in Quebec with a win and sixth place overall.
Puerto Rico defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-13, 25-7, 25-9) today in the classification for places six and seven.
Outside hitter Paola Santiago of Puerto Rico led all scoring with 19 points – 15 attack points, 2 blocks and 2 ace serves.
Puerto Rico dominated in all skills – attack 34-14, blocks 18-2, aces 6-1 and gained 17 points from Costa Rican errors (compared with 12 errors on the winning team’s side).
Player Paola Santiago of Puerto Rico : “We knew the NORCECA tournament was going to be a tough tournament for us – we knew were going to face the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, really high-level volleyball teams. We came in with a winning attitude, but it wasn’t what we expected. I’m glad we ended on a good note as we are getting ready for the Paris 2024 tournament. This is the highest-level competition that we’ve faced this summer.”
Fernando Morales, head coach of Puerto Rico : “It was good to end this tournament on a high note. We have the Olympic qualification tournament (in Japan) coming up soon. So hopefully we can get back to training to prepare for that tournament. … We will have a couple more players in Japan, so we feel thiswas good preparation for the players here.”
Jose Miguel Brinceño, head coach of Costa Rica: “We came to this Norceca Championship with a team of young players, some with experience. During the tournament, we faced very tough matches against the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and today against Puerto Rico, all of which pushed us to our limits. We believe that we improved as the tournament went on. At times, our serving improved, and we were able to put pressure some teams with our serves, but blocking remained a constant challenge due to the strong attacks from our opponents. However, the learning was that we can compete at times against top teams, considering that our main strength was good defense, a lot of courage in those second-ball plays. We hope to continue participating in these tournaments to keep learning and improving.”
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