Cuba lose against Olympic Champions

WROCLAW, Poland, September 11, 2014 - Olympic champions Russia defeated Cuba in four sets (25-18, 23-25, 25-15, 25-19) staying close to the top of Pool F with a 5-0 win-loss record and 14 points, one point less than the leading Brazil. The Russians held a 50-30 advantage in attacks and established a 9-1 big gap in aces while both teams had nine blocks.

Dmitriy Ilinykh led Russia with 17 points while Nikolay Pavlov and Dmitriy Muserskiy each contributed 16 points in the win. Osmany Uriarte and Javier Jimenez were the main offensive players for the Cubans with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

The Cubans obviously surprised Russia at the beginning of the match, as thanks to Rolando Cepeda Abreu and Osmany Santiago Uriarte Mestre’s kills they managed to take 8-6 lead. However, the Olympic champions quickly changed the result to 14-9 with a few confident moves.

Russia have won seven matches in this edition and ten in a row at the world championship. The seven victories equal the total of Russia in the 2010 edition All six previous meetings of Cuba with Russia were against the former Soviet Union.