Cuba heads for final of the XVI Pan American Games - Volleyball news
A semi-final volleyball match of the XVI Pan American Games took place on October 19 and saw the Cubans compete with the world number two United States women’s national volleyball team in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the end of the four set long contest between
the two, the Cubans were celebrating their win into the gold medal match of the tournament.
The first set of the competition was dominated by the Cubans and saw the Americans trailing all the way to the end. The second set took the same tone as the opening one and the Cubans were able to smoother the Americans one more time to earn a 2-0 advantage.
The loss of the first two sets got the Americans to step up their game and they were able to work hard for the third one and finally avoided a sweep by bagging the frame. However, the Cubans were able to better their opponents in the fourth set and won the
match at the following final set scores: 25-17, 25-16, 25-27 and 25-21.
The coach of the Cuban team, Juan Carlos Gala, shared his views in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match had reached its close: “USA is a team we respect a lot. We could achieve the goal on the first two sets with
our service. USA knew how to recover and went out looking for the victory on the third and fourth. They are a team with a lot of courage, and they showed by winning their pool in the tournament.”
On the other hand, the coach of the US team, Andy Banachowiski, made the following statements to express himself: “I wish them good luck on the gold medal match. We came with the hope of winning medal and the possibility still exists for us. Cuba put a lot
of pressure tonight with the service. I am really proud of how the team played on the third and fourth sets.”
The player that was able to tally the most points in the entire match was the Cuban Yoana Palacios who tallied a total of 25 points. Palacios was helped by her teammates Kenia Carcaces and Gyselle Silva each of whom contributed by scoring 14 points each.
On the other hand, the most active American player was Cynthia Barboza with a total of 14 points in the entire match. Barboza was supported by Alexandra Klineman who made her presence felt by adding 12 points for her side.
The Cuban team will now be taking on the world number one Brazilian squad in the final of the Pan American Games.
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