Cuba vs USA
Havana, Jun 16 (JIT) - The men's team of Cuba said goodbye to the first week of group two of the Volleyball Nations League with a 1-3 loss to the United States at the Maracanazinho stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
According to the International Federation website www.fivb.com, the Antilleans were better by the minimum in attack 48 points to 47, and in blocking by 13-11, but below in service (4-7) and with more errors of their own (28-23), figures that guaranteed the success of the rival 25-22, 25-18, 18-25, and 25-23.
The official individual statistics reflect the Caribbean Marlon Yant, for the third consecutive day, as the top scorer of the match with 21 points, 16 in attack, three in blocking, and two in service, supported by José Massó (17/14-3-0).
The other three players who accumulated double digits were Americans Cooper Robinson (18/12-4-2), Jeffrey Jendryk (13/10-2-1), and Ethan Chaplin (11/91-1).
With this result, the disciples of Cuban technical director Jesús Cruz concluded this phase with one victory and three setbacks.
The win came at the expense of the hosts with a 3-2 slate (27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 20-25, and 15-13) and the losses were against Slovenia, 1-3 (22-25, 25-21, 18-25 and 15-25), and Ukraine, 2-3 (22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 12-15).
The United States closed with two wins against Iran (3-2) and Cuba (3-1), and two losses against Ukraine (0-3) and Slovenia (1-3).
The other two weeks for Cuba will be in Belgrade, with the participation of Germany, Serbia, Netherlands, and Argentina, and in Gdansk, with Bulgaria, Poland, France, and China, in that order.
The Caribbean team aims to be among the top eight in the demanding competition and surpass the ninth place of the previous edition of 2024, for which it will have to improve a lot in the following and more complicated stages.
