Press release

Guatemala City, Guatemala, May 2, 2010 – USA defeated Mexico in four sets (25-19, 25-21, 15-25, 25-17) winning their fifth consecutive title and sixth overall at NORCECA Girls’ Youth Volleyball Championship. In the process they also won the ticket to the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next August.

By reaching the gold medal match both teams had clinched spots in next year’s FIVB Championship for girls under 18-years of age in Turkey. Puerto Rico, who earlier defeated Dominican Republic in the match for the bronze medal, also qualified for the FIVB competition.

USA v Mexico
Brittany Howard and Mallory McCage led USA to victory over Mexico contributing 19 and 18 points respectively while MVP Samantha Bricio of Mexico led all scorers with a match-high 29 points. The Americans had an 11-4 advantage in the blocking category.
“I am very pleased with the way our team played,” USA coach Jim Stone said. “I feel very good about our team performance. Mexico is a good team, the best defensive team we have ever played.”
On getting the chance to play in the Youth Olympics, Stone said: “It will help tremendously this inexperience group of players to play in a competition like that.”
Mexican coach Jose Bernal commented: “We put in a big effort but in the fourth set we let USA build a wide margin and then we couldn’t catch them. In general, we played a good game and I am pleased with our silver medal.”

Puerto Rico v Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico outclassed the Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-21) to win the bronze medal and the remaining continental berth to the 2011 FIVB World Championship for players under 18 years of age.
Daly Santana totalled 19 points for the winners and Lucia Castro and Pilar Victoria contributed 13 and 12 respectively. Elizabeth Martinez was the only Dominican in double digits with 11 while Pamela Soriano collected nine points.
“Today we really played to our best and the match the day before against the United States really helped,” said Puerto Rico’s coach Eric Gonzalez. “Our serves did a lot of damage and we could establish solid blocking at the corners.”

Costa Rica v. Guatemala
Costa Rica defeated Guatemala and won the duel between the Central American rivals and the competition's fifth place ranking. The set scores were 25-18, 25-16, 25-11 and the winners played with better coordination and effectiveness.
Gabriela Arias and Tracy Fernandez led Costa Rica with 16 and 12 points respectively. The best for the home team were Evelin Sanchez and Ada Villalobos with six points apiece.

Final positions
1. USA, 2. Mexico, 3. Puerto Rico, 4. Dominican Republic, 5. Costa Rica, 6. Guatemala, 7. Canada, 8. Trinidad & Tobago, 9. El Salvador, 10. Jamaica.

Individual awards:
 
Best Scorer:  Channon Thompson (TRI)
Best Spiker:  Alexa Gray (CAN)
Best Blocker:  Mallory McCage (USA)
Best Server:  Alicia Castro (MEX)
Best Setter:  Madison Bugg (USA)
Best Digger:  Winifer Fernandez (DOM)
Best Receiver:  Winifer Fernandez (DOM)
Best Libero:  Winifer Fernandez (DOM)
MVP:   Samantha Bricio (MEX)