Francisco “Panchee” Cruz, coach of the T&T senior women’s volleyball declared that he was satisfied with his team’s showing in a straight set loss to Cuba in their opening match of the Norceca Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament in Mexico on Sunday. Playing at the Baja California High Performance Centre, Tijuana, Mexico, three-time Olympic champions and world tenth ranked Cuba blanked T&T, 25-15, 25-7, 25-12. The Cubans after a slow start dominated at the net with nine blocks against only two by T&T and also won the battle from the service line with a 10-2 margin in the aces category. Yoana Palacios topped Cuba with 15 points and Yanelis Santos added 11 including three aces and three blocks while Wilma Salas contributed nine points for the winners, who are coached by former T&T senior men’s coach Juan Carlos Gala.
Speaking after the loss, Cruz said, “We felt satisfied since we faced a very tough team like Cuba.” “The T&T coach noted that while his team made some errors credit must be given to the Cubans who had a lot of success in plays and their service game which stabilised their team.” Krystle Esdelle, captain of the T&T team who plies her trade with Germany’s Club Schweriner SC, added, “We had a tough match and everything we do is taken step by step as our team is in an evolution process.” Cuba’s Captain Yusidey Silie commended the T&T team for its display saying: “T&T has improved a lot which had us a little confused at the first set, but we increased our level and played better in the end.” Gala echoed Silie comments adding: “We were under pressure in the first set but the team knew how to move forward and get the win.” In Sunday’s other Pool B match, Mexico defeated Costa Rica, 25-21, 25-23, 25-14, while in Pool A, Puerto Rico relied on a team-effort to score a convincing 25-18, 25-14, 25-21 win over Canada and world ninth ranked Dominican Republic crushed Honduras, 25-5, 25-5, 25-7.
Yesterday, Puerto Rico won its second straight match, 25-4, 25-6, 25-4 over Honduras while Dominican Republic came up against Canada, Cuba played Costa Rica and T&T faced Mexico in the late match. Today, T&T will meet Costa Rica from 5 pm in its final round-robin match. Also today, Cuba plays Mexico at 10 pm while in Pool A, Canada faces Honduras from 3 pm, and Dominican Republic tangles with Puerto Rico from 8 pm. At the end of today’s round-robin matches, the top team in each pool will secure automatic berths to the semifinals while the second and third placed teams will battle in cross-matches in the quarterfinals. The eight-team competition will qualify one team to London. USA, the top ranked Norceca women’s team has already qualified to the 2012 London Olympic Games after finishing in second place at the FIVB World Cup last November in Japan and is not competing in Mexico. The best ranked team that doesn’t win the tournament will have another chance to clinch an Olympic berth in a tournament to be played in Japan in May.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt