Cuba goes onto the semis by sweeping Peru in XVI Pan American Games: Volleyball
The volleyball quarter-finals of the XVI Pan American Games took place on the Tuesday, October 18, in the Mexican city of Guadalajara and fans saw the Cubans make a show of their skills against the Peruvians. The venue of the competition was the Avila Camacho
Sport Complex that was filled with a crowd of 3,500 people. It did not take long for the match to reach its close as the Cubans were able to gain entry into the semi-final of the tournament after making a clean sweep over their opponents.
The first set started off with both teams almost level with each other but as the frame progressed, the Cubans were able to dominate the opening set and bag themselves a win. The second set saw the Peruvians perform slightly better than the previous set
but they could not swing things in their favour and ended up losing the second set as well. The third set of the match was the most intense as the Peruvians tried their best to avoid a clean sweep whereas the Cubans worked towards an early win. Unfortunately
for the Peruvians, the Cubans were able to secure three consecutive sets at the following final set scores: 25-18, 25-19 and 26-24.
The coach of the Cuban team Juan Carlos Gala made the following comments at the press conference after the match had reached its close: “I think Cuba did not play its best match. We had a different start in comparison with the previous match. We experienced
some difficulties. I saw the players very calmed and I did not like that. We struggled with the blocking game, but finally had the chance to do the right job and whatever happens, we will face USA.”
On the other hand, the coach of the Peruvian team, Luca Cristofani expressed himself in the following manner: “When you play a team like Cuba, you have to play hard- We could do more on the third set. Unfortunately we had an injured setter, and you have
to make a choice that sometimes it is not easy, after seen what we did on the third set.”
The Cubans were able to outperform the Peruvians in almost every aspect of the game. Both the attack as well as the defence of the Cubans was better than their opponents that helped a great deal to keep the pressure on the Peruvians. Particularly, the superior
blocking skills of the Cuban squad gave them the leverage as Cuba pulled off a total of 14 blocks in the entire match whereas the Peruvians managed only five.
The player that tallied the most points in the match was the Cuban Rosana Giel who scored 13 points.
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