2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico and Canada start on right track

Caguas, Puerto Rico, August 13, 2005 – Hosts Puerto Rico and Canada both recorded victories on the opening day of the FIVB Women’s World Championship second round tournament (NORCECA D) in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Canada beat Mexico 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23) in the opening match of the tournament before Puerto Rico beat Barbados 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-16). The fifth team in the tournament – USA –had the bye.

Captain Melissa Raymond top scored with 17 points as Canada took 100 minutes to beat Mexico, who were led by their own captain Bibiana Candelas, who also scored 17 points.

Puerto Rico, meanwhile, made easy work of Barbados, taking just under an hour to record their opening win with captain Aurea Cruz top scoring with 11 points.

The top three finishers in the tournament will advance to the 2006 World Championship final round in Japan as members of the NORCECA zone.

Five other teams – Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Jamaica – will vie for three additional NORCECA slots for the final round at the “NORCECA E” World Championship second round tournament in Santo Domingo from Aug. 24-28.

In all, 24 teams will compete at the 2006 World Championships from Nov. 16-Dec. 3 – seven from Europe, six from NORCECA, four from Asia, three from Africa, two from South America, the host team (Japan) and the 2002 champion (Italy).

Good Start for Canada

Canada utilized its experience and took advantage of several mistakes of Mexico to start with a victory at the FIVB Womens World Championship second round tournament Norceca-D.

The Canadians won by score of 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23) with consistent services that caused reception problems to the receiving side.

Captain and middle-blocker Melissa Raymonds led Canada with 18 points and Barb Bellini added 14. Bibi Candelas topped Mexico with 17 points.

Press Conference

Lorne Sawula, Canadian coach: "We have to play harder to obtain our objectives, I think the most important thing is the consistency because our next to opponents are teams of high level like USA and Puerto Rico."

Melissa Raymond, captain of Canada: "This victory is a positive step for our team. It is good to start winning and we hope to go from here and get our goal."

Marco Heredia, Mexican coach: "We have to improve our game, but considering it was our first one we were not that bad. We know that we can have another crucial match against Canada and can beat them."

First victory for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico started its quest for a berth in the Womens FIVB World Championships final round with an easy victory over Barbados in straight sets (25-15, 25-11, 25-16).

The Puerto Ricans had good blocking and service to dominate the young team from Barbados and coach Juan Carlos Nunez utilized all his players.

Aury Cruz led Puerto Rico with 10 points and Sheila Ocasio and Shannon Torregrosa each had 8.

Juan Carlos Nunez, coach of Puerto Rico: "It was a match to use all the players and prepare for our game of tomorrow against Mexico, a rival with good tradition and experience."

Aury Cruz, captain of Puerto Rico: "I am pleased with the triumph and now we have to prepare for the other rivals and obtain our goal of qualifying for the World Championships."

Paul Payne, coach of Barbados: "We played against team of good level and this game helps to continue our development, learning from teams of the Puerto Rico level."