Cuba earns finals spot in World League
Cuba and Serbia contested against each other on Thursday, June 28, 2012 in a Pool A match of the FIVB Volleyball World League in Belgrade, Serbia. The match was being staged in the SPC Vojvodina hall where a total of 3000 spectators had come to watch the
home team play. However, it was Cuba who was able to earn a win by 3-2 as well as a spot in the final round of the tournament.
Cuba won the match in two hours and 15 minutes at the following final set scores: 24-26, 25-16, 21-25, 26-24 and 15-13.
The coach of the Cuban side, Orlando Blackwood, expressed his delight at the outcome of the match by giving the following statements, “I want to congratulate my players for reaching the Final Tournament...As for the match, no matter who plays on the court
it is always very difficult to play against Serbia.”
On the other hand, the coach of the home team Igor Kolakovic shared his views in the following way, “We managed to keep up with them all the way, except of course in the second set, and it is a valuable experience especially for our young players who will
use the knowledge obtained from these matches in the future.”
Wilfredo Leon and Cepeda, the two players from Cuba were able to score the most points in the match by putting up a score of 22 each while the player that led the Serbians in terms of points was Aleksandar Atanasijevic with a score of 15.
The first set of the match took off with both the teams playing strong volleyball and not letting the other get away with the advantage. The set was marked with several lead changes with the score remaining close all through the frame. It was not sure where
the tables would turn until the final stages of the set when the Serbians were able to seal the deal at 26-24.
Cuba did not take the loss of the first set well and got off with an early lead in the second set that they were able to extend as the Serbians fell to making errors. Serbia started trailing behind and the Cubans did not look back as they stormed ahead to
secure the second set at 25-16.
Cuba and Serbia both stayed even at the start of the third set but Serbia eventually overtook the Cubans at 18-14. The frame reached a tie at 20-20 only to end in another Serbian win at 25-21.
The fourth set remained close right from the beginning and got to a tie at 21-21 after which the Cubans inched themselves forward to take the match to a fifth set by bagging the fourth one at 26-24.
The fifth set saw a tug of war take place between the two sides which ended up in a tie at 10-10 that later on led towards a Cuban win at 15-13.
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