Cuba in the Final Four of NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship – Volleyball news
The quarter-final of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship took place between Cuba and Dominican Republic on the September 14. The contest between the two sides was played in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The close match ended up in a victory to the Cubans
after a clean sweep of their opponents.
With their recent win, the Cubans have been able to top Pool C of the tournament and earn themselves a ticket into the semi-final round of the competition. The other team that has managed a position in the top four of the championship is the home team of
Puerto Rico.
The first set of the match was completely dominated by the Cubans and took the Dominican Republic a loss to step up their game in the second set. Despite a hard fought second set, the Dominican Republic could not stop the Cubans from winning the frame and
leading the match at 2-0. The Dominican Republic tried hard in the third set but the Cubans proved to be the better side as they bagged a match win at the following final set scores: 25-15, 29-27 and 25-22.
The coach of the Cuban team, Juan Carlos Gala, made the following comments at the press conference that was conducted after the match had reached its close: “There is not very much to say about this match. We are happy with the victory.”
On the other hand, the Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek, shared his feelings in this manner: “It was not a good game for us and the injuries of Rivera and Cabral make me worry and now another player (Sidarka Nuñez) injured the hamstring.”
The first set of the game saw the Cubans take the lead early on and they were able to stretch the advantage. The Mexicans kept trialed behind all through but could not challenge the Cubans who won the set easily at 25-15.
No one was sure where the tables would turn in the second set until the very end of the game as the set kept going back and forth all the time. However, the Cubans were able to grab the second set and make another win at 29-27. After the first two wins,
the Cubans played the third set confidently and sailed to a win at 25-22.
The player that was able to tally the most points in the match belonged to the Cuban squad. Yoana Palacios led both sides by registering a total of 14 points. Palacios was helped by Yanelis Santos who made her presence felt by adding another 13 points for
the Cubans.
The player that was most active on the Mexican side was Rosanna Giel as she tallied nine points for her team while Yusidey Silie helped the Dominican Republic to stay competitive by posting eight points of her own.
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