Cuba overpowers Chinese Taipei in straight sets – Volleyball news
Girls around Cuban Head Coach Juan Carlos Gala worked out a great performance against Chinese Taipei on day-6 of the 2012 FIVB Women’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Cuba sent 27-25, 25-17, 25-21on board and clinched success in the match. The Tokyo Metropolitan Gym hosted the match on Saturday, while more than 2,000 fans were in presence. Chinese Taipei rally hard to win the opening set but suffered the loss with a narrow
margin. Thereafter, Cuba controlled the operations of the game and defeated the opponent in consecutive sets.
Cuba was supported by top-scorer of the match in the form of Yoana Palacios, who played exquisitely well and totalled 16 points. Her teammates, Wilma Salas and Ana Cleger also did well and registered 12 points apiece. Yanelis Santos of Cuba was never behind
and ended with 11 points.
On the other hand, only one player from Chinese Taipei could cross the single score. Chen Wan Ting added team-high 11 points in the loss.
The start of match was quite different from the outcome. Chinese Taipei opened the match with flurry of points and jumped to 4-point lead at the first technical timeout, which was requested by Cuban Coach. During the timeout, Cuban players received a whole
lot of instructions from the coach to overcome the opponent. However, Chinese refused to lose the spot and continued with success. They kept the lead in hand at second TTO.
Cuba started to feel alive when Castaneda sent a spike into the net and put her team in lead at 20-18. Afterwards, Cubans added couple of points and hit the equalizer at 22-all. C.T. quickly responded and went up at 24-23 but Cuba once again tied the score
at 24. Meanwhile Castaneda helped Cuba to go up on the board but Chen of C.T. equalled the score 25-all. In the crucial moments of the first set, Cubans sustained the pressure and closed the affair at 27-25.
Success in the opening set provided a jumpstart to Cuba and the Caribbean ladies scored back-to-back wins in the next two frames of the game. Cuba emerged successful in the match with 3-0 ratio.
“We have not even won a set yet, so I'm sure the players are having a tough time physically and mentally. We had a team meeting last night and talked about fighting spirit and they played better today. I hope they will show their fighting spirit in the final
match tomorrow,” said of Chinese Taipei mentor Norimasa Sakakuchi.
The winning coach Juan Carlos Gala of Cuba said, “We played well. Our blocking and serving were good. The offense worked well, but it took power and time. I would like to praise our players. After last night's loss, I told them not to give up and keep playing
high quality until the end.”
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