Havana, August 15 (RHC) – The Cuban team was unable to overcome Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals, who won 3-1 (18-25, 28-26, 28-26, 25-19), and will compete for fifth place in the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup, which is taking place in Cuernavaca, at the Poliforum 2 of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos.
Our team will face the Dominican Republic again this Saturday, before the semifinal matches. The Dominican Republic defeated them 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 15-25, 25-23, 15-9) in their previous quarterfinal match in Group B.
The Dominican team lost their quarterfinal match on Friday against the United States 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-13).
The United States will play their semifinal match against Mexico, while Puerto Rico will face Canada. Both teams won their respective qualifying groups and awaited the results of the day’s main event to learn their Saturday opponents.
Against Puerto Rico, the Cubans only had an advantage in attack (58-53), as their opponent dominated in blocks (11-9) and service points (4-1), and committed fewer errors (28-31).
The Cuban opposite hitter was the top scorer of the match with 18 points, followed by Yusniel González Martà (11) and VÃctor Andreu (10). Middle blockers Jakdiel Contreras and Endriel Pedroso added seven points each.
For the Puerto Ricans, Pedro Molina (17) and Klistan Lawrence (16) stood out, while PelegrÃn Vargas and Ismael Alomar each contributed 10 points.
In other results, Guatemala defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 27-25) and will face Costa Rica for seventh place.
Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao will face off in the Caribbean duel for ninth place.
