LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June 7, 2022.- The United States overpowered Costa Rica 3-0 (25-8, 25-4, 25-8) in their debut at the sixth edition of the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup at the Arena La Paz in Baja California Sur.
The U.S. team grabbed their first win in pool C of the event that grants two tickets to the 2023 FIVB World Championship using all their players in a match short of one minute of an hour.
The Americans’ serves were too much for Costa Rica, ending with an impressive 14-0 margin in aces; they also were superior in attacks (39-10) and blocks (7-0), and scored 75 points on opponent errors against 20.
Outside hitter Chole Chicoine led the United States with 13 points on 10 kills and 3 aces; opposite hitter Merritt Beason and outside hitter Raven Covin contributed with 8 and 6 points respectively.
Opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez scored 5 points for Costa Rica as their leading scorer.
On day two of the event, the United States (1-0) will face Canada (0-1) and Costa Rica (0-1) meets Argentina (1-0).
Daniel Fisher, Head Coach of United States: “We kept our service pressure strong the whole match. It was a good opportunity for us to play a lot of players, we are a new team together, the hitter and setters are still learning from each other, we’ve only trained for a week, so it was a nice beginning for us”.
Nicole Mata, Captain of Costa Rica: “This our first tournament together, our first match and it was against a strong opponent. Many of the players shook off their nerves and anxiousness of the first match. We are not done yet; we have two more pool matches and we are turning the page”.
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