United States wins spectacular tie-break to Cuba

AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico, June 19, 2018.- United States won a spectacular five setter 3-2 (20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 15-11) to Cuba in pool A at the NORCECA U20 Women’s Championship on Tuesday night at Aguascalientes, Mexico.

USA remains with unbeaten 2-0 record and is headed to win pool-play with one remaining match in pool A against Guatemala. Cuba has 1-1 record and resumes with Puerto Rico.

United States started with the lead in set one but couldn’t remain on top as Cuba pushed harder over the net, led by Ailama Cese charging force. The US players evened the scores pocketing set two and continued to edge Cuba winning set three. Cuba dominated set four with impressive 13-5 score but the US managed a big comeback that still came short. Finally the US won the deciding fifth set.

Logan Eggleston led USA with 18 points on 10 kills and remarkable 8 aces, Molly Phillips registered 10 points on 7 kills and three blocking points. Cuban Ailama Cese scored a match-high of 20 points on 17 kills and 3 blocks; Ivy Vila and Thalia Moreno scored 10 points apiece also for Cuba.

Logan Eggleston captain of United States: “It feels really good winning tonight, it was a fun match. We hit strong.  We worked well together, we were really focused on sticking together even if they got really worked on us, we just shook it off and just went on to our next move. Our chemistry continues to build. Both setters did a real good job and I am proud about both of them; it’s part of making changes so our opponent can see something different. Cuba is an amazing team, so I’m proud the way we executed, they have pretty heavy arms that crush some balls and we responded well”.

Robert Cook head coach of United States: “We asked players to play in different positions as we thought was best and they did it, players doing different roles. It was a back and forth serving game the entire match. Our serves were pretty good in that fifth set. We were down big in the fourth and we made the change of setter and made a big comeback, so we decided to continue with Mia; I am happy for her performance in her first international tournament. It was quite a wild night”.

Regla Torres head coach of Cuba: “My players feel bad, I not so much. United States has a very high game level; they are fast and really know how to play volleyball. And we have really young performers, this is their first international event, they have never been outside Cuba. This is a really good preparation for what lies ahead. We aren’t prepared enough to be here, we didn’t have preparation games, it doesn’t matter how much you want to win if you don’t have the right conditions. I will talk to them, they must know that we haven’t lost yet, we wanted to be pool leaders, but what’s most important are the crossover matches, there is still possibilities and I will motivate them, hoping they won’t lose energy and what’s most important that they need to believe they can win”.