VNL Cuba

Havana, Jun 12 (JIT) - The Cuban national team lost to Slovenia in four sets (22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-25) in the opening of the first week of the Volleyball Nations League, held in Rio de Janeiro.

The Europeans outplayed the Cubans in attack (51-44) and service (5-3), and committed fewer unforced errors (21-28). In blocking they concluded with a tie at 12, according to the official site of the event.

Marlon Yant with 19 points (14 attack-4 blocks-1 ace) and José Massó 12 (9-1-2) were the only ones with double digits for their team, although the top scorer was Rok Mozic, who added 24 (20-3-1), escorted by 36-year-old veteran Tine Urnaut (16/13-2-1), and Toncek Stern (13/12-1-0).

Head coach Jesús Cruz completed his regular lineup with center backs Javier Concepción (9/6-3-0) and Roamy Alonso (6/4-2-0), corner attacker José Miguel Gutiérrez (6 attacks), passer Christian Thondique (2 A), and libero Yonder García.

For the latter two, Julio Alberto González (3/2-1-0) and Bryan Camino took the fourth set, in that order, and opposite Yordan Bisset (1A) did it for Massó, according to the statistical summary of the match, defined in one hour and 35 minutes.

This Thursday, Cruz's students will face Brazil at Macarazinho Stadium, starting at 4:30 p.m.

A year ago, the Islanders came out on top 3-1 in the first challenge of the League, a segment in which they also defeated Germany and Iran, with similar scores, and lost to Japan 2-3.