Cuba overcomes ambitious Trinidad & Tobago in quarterfinal match – Volleyball news
Trinidad & Tobago men’s volleyball team, which was quite high on emotions after making it to the quarterfinals, received straight set defeat from Cuba on Thursday.
Caribbean men delivered a spectacular performance and crushed the hopes of ambitious Trinidad & Tobago with 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-16) victory. The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California provided the backdrop for the match. Victory allowed Cuba to reserve
a seat in the semi-finals.
Marc Honore of Trinidad & Tobago emerged as the top-scorer of the match with 11 points. He was followed by his teammate Nolan Tash, who contributed 10 points. On Cuba’s side, Isbel Mesa added a team-high 10 points. Skipper of the Cuban team Wilfredo Leon
also did well and had nine points.
Cubans served with power in the first set and pushed Trinidad & Tobago behind. They formed good combinations and controlled the action on the net. T&T progressed at snail’s pace, while Cuba jumped to 9-2 lead at the first technical timeout. Caribbean team
played its usual style and continued with success. Trinidad & Tobago also made a lot of errors, which helped Cuba to quickly finish the opening set. The first stanza completed its run in 20 minutes and Cuba improved to 1-0.
No.5 ranked in the world, the Cuban squad became strong in the following set. T&T failed to stay in front of the killing spikes and deadly aces. Second set also ended in Cuba’s favour, which put more pressure on Trinidad & Tobago.
In the third set of the match, T&T players seemed visibly disappointed and tired. Charged-up Cubans did not stop and managed to put an end to the game in third set. They pulled off success in consecutive sets and celebrated victory.
The Head Coach of Trinidad & Tobago Gideon Dickson revealed a few facts in his post-match comments. He said, “The difference was consistency. That trickles down into something called experience at this level. I believed coming into the game that we could
have been even more competitive than we were. On any given day, who plays the best will and can win regardless of what people have written.”
He further added, “Our team wasn’t as efficient in the competition today. We have to learn from this experience because we have to play a match tomorrow against some team that we have never beaten before.”
His Cuban counterpart Orlando Samuels appreciated the effort put by Trinidad & Tobago team. He acknowledged that T&T performed better than its previous matches.
Cuba is now scheduled to take on host USA in the semi-final match on Friday. Caribbean team has the daunting task to overcome in-form American team, which is pre-favourite in the competition.
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