A 5/8 classification match of the Norceca Boys’ U19 Continental Championship took place on Friday, July 6, 2012 between Costa Rica and US Virgin Islands. The tournament is currently being hosted by Tijuana in Mexico where the venue of the matches is the Centro de Alto Rendimiento sports hall. The squad from Costa Rica was able to secure the fifth spot in the championship by making a clean sweep over its opponent in front of 100 spectators.

Costa Rica bagged three sets consecutively in one hour and 16 minutes at the end of which the score board showed the following final set scores: 25-17, 25-20 and 26-24.

The coach of the Cuban squad, Alberto Travieso, shared his satisfaction with the win by making the following comments, “We were prepared for this match expecting that they would put a lot of pressure in us, our team struggled on the third set while they applied a good tactical plan with fake and good block plays, but thanks god we won.”

On the other hand, the coach of the US Virgin Islands team, Mark Daniel, expressed himself at the outcome of the match in the following manner, “I am disappointed the way we played today. We also missed our captain (Nayib Gonzalez) and some other important players, and we must keep working hard.”

Despite the fact that they lost the match, US Virgin Islands took something to be proud of from the contest as their player Asseah Thomas was able to score 17 points and become the top scorer among the two teams. On the other hand, the lead scorer on the Costa Rican side was Luis Diego Abarca who kept the pressure on his opponents by tallying 13 points.

The first set of the match saw the score stay even for the initial part as both the teams were trying to gain dominance on the courts. However, the Costa Ricans managed to gain control by taking the lead and pushing it further while the US Virgin Islands squad tired to close in the gap. The Costa Ricans did not let go of the advantage until they had bagged the opening set of the match at 25-17.

The second set saw the US Virgin Islands team step up their game and they were able to gain a lead at the start. Before long, Costa Rica managed to pull up ahead to grab the advantage but US Virgin Islands kept the score close. However, it was Costa Rica who finally secured the second set at 25-20.

The third set of the game was the most competitive as US Virgin Islands tried to avoid a clean sweep while the Costa Ricans looked for an early finish. However, it was the Costa Rican squad that was able to finally seal the deal at 26-24.