Tica volleyball teams to play for spot in the London Olympics

Costa Rican teams won the Female Beach Volleyball Norceca Cup, held last weekend on Malpaís, on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in northwest Costa Rica. Both teams defeated El Salvador pairs.

The Ticas A team of Marianela Alfaro and Ivette Alas took the title by beating El Salvador’s B team of Nadia Soler and Laura Molina by a score of 21-16, 16-21 and 15-12. Last Friday, Costa Rica’s B team of Ingrid Morales y Natalia Alfaro defeated El Salvador’s A squad in two sets by 21-10 and 21-14.

Besides Costa Rica and El Salvador, Norceca Cup also included teams from Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Curacao, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Cayman Islands. Nicaragua and Guatemala will join Costa Rica and El Salvador in the final stage of the competition – the Continental Cup – in Nayarit, Mexico.

Those four teams will meet top volleyball duos from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba, from June 19 to 23, where one ticket to the 2012 London Olympic Games awaits for the champions.

Costa Rica’s men’s teams will play for a spot in the final stage Wednesday through Friday in Montelimar, Nicaragua.