16 to 29 July

Puerto Rico beat Cuba for the men’s gold in Cartagena 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 29, 2006.- Puerto Rico scored a major upset in defeating Cuba 28-26, 25-22, 25-23 to take the gold medal in the men’s tournament of the XX Central American and Caribbean Games. The Puerto Ricans revalidated the crown they had won in 2002 at El Salvador when Cuba did not participate. The victory marked the first time Puerto Rico has defeated Cuba in men’s volleyball since the ninth edition of the Games at Kingston, Jamaica in 1962. Cuba, off to a great start in this year World League with 4-0 record after two weekends of the Intercontinental Rounds, was considered a heavy favorite to win the gold medal, but the Puerto Ricans used combined attacks and amazing defense to blank their opponents.Hector Soto, elected as the Most Valuable Placer by the media covering the tournament, led Puerto Rico with 18 points and Jose Rivera added 12.  More Spanish

Puerto Rico and Cuba will play for the men’s crown in Cartagena

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 28, 2006.- Puerto Rico and Cuba will play for the men’s crown in the volleyball tournament of the XX Central American Games after scoring straight sets victories in the semi final phase over Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The Puerto Ricans dominated their Dominicans opponents by score of 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 and the Cubans beat Venezuela 25-23, 25-23, 25-15. “We came out with the purpose of neutralizing their two strong guys, Contreras and Caceres, and we did it,” said Puerto Rican Luis Rodriguez. “Our serves were also excellent and we established our game.” Hector Soto and Victor Rivera had 15 and 10 points for Puerto Rico and Rene Estevez and Rodriguez each had 8. Elvis Contreras and Jose Caceres had 14 and 11 respectively for the Dominican Republic. “We didn’t do anything,” said Julio Frias, the Dominican coach. “The serves, the receiving and the blocking were bad, and you can’t win playing like that. I hope we can improve against Venezuela.” Osmany Juantorena and Odelvis Dominico each scored 12 points for Cuba and Raidel Poey added 9. Carlos Tejeda had 9 for Venezuela and Luis Díaz 7. More Spanish

Dominicans and Venezuelans join Final Four  

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 27, 2006.- Dominican Republic and Venezuela joined Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Final Four round of the Men’s Volleyball Tournament at the Central American and Caribbean Games. Led by 21 and 20 points respectively from Jose Caceres and Elvis Contreras, the Dominicans defeated host Colombia 3-0 (25-23, 25-19,25-19) and Luis Diaz was the main offensive force of Venezuela with 21 points in the triumph over Mexico 3-0 (25-17, 25-19 y 26-24). Dominican Republic will play against Puerto Rico in the semi finals while Venezuela will meet Cuba. Colombia and Mexico will play for the fifth position. “This match represents some kind of a wake-up call after our worst match last night against Cuba,” said Contreras. “Tomorrow, against Puerto Rico, I think we are going to have another good match. We are two teams pretty evened and the one who makes lesser errors will win the match, so we need to go out with a great level of concentration.” Liberman Agamez was the top scorer for Colombia with 18 points, and Jorge Payan added 11. More Spanish

Cuba and Puerto Rico are semi finalists in Colombia 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 26, 2006.- Cuba and Puerto Rico advanced to the semi finals of the men’s volleyball tournament at the Central American and Caribbean Games after finishing with unbeaten records in the preliminary pool play. Cuba blanked Dominican Republic to win Pool A, and Puerto Rico defeated Colombia in straight sets to take first place in Pool B. They will rest on Thursday, while Dominican Republic meets Colombia and Venezuela faces Mexico. The Cubans established their serve and block game and neutralized the Dominican attack in the victory 25-14, 25-18, 25-19. The Puerto Ricans had the same pattern in their win by score of 25-15, 25-23 y 25-18. “We knew we would be facing an emerging team that knows how to win the big matches, so we came out trying to neutralize them in the early going and we did it,” said Roberto Garcia, the Cuban coach. More Spanish 

Dominicans won in five sets, Cubans and Puerto Ricans are also unbeaten in Colombia 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 25, 2006.- Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico are undefeated after two days of pool play in the men’s volleyball event at the Central American and Caribbean Games. While the Dominicans had to battle for five-sets to keep their unbeaten record, Cubans and Puerto Ricans had easy matches in their pool matches. Dominican Republic is 2-0 in Pool A following its five-set triumph over Mexico with the combined titanic effort of Elvis Contreras and Jose Caceres who each scored 25 points. “Our game at the net has been good but we have had some problems with our reception that we need to improve,” said Dominican coach Julio Frias after the win by score of 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13. “We knew about the resources of our opponent so we just came prepared to play with a big level of concentration,” he added. Mexican Ivan Contreras led all the scorers with 29 points, Gustavo Meyer had 12 and Jose Martell and Juan Garcia chipped in 11 and 10 respectively. More Spanish

Puerto Rico beat Venezuela in men’s play at Colombia 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 24, 2006.- Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Colombia came out winners during the first day of play in the men’s volleyball tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games. The most exciting victory was the one of Puerto Rico over Venezuela in four sets (25-21, 27-25, 29-31, 32-30) lasting 2 hours and 21 minutes. Cuba beat Mexico 3-1, and Dominican Republic and Colombia defeated Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados 3-0 respectively. Hector Soto led five Puerto Ricans in double figures with 22 points. Victor Rivera and Luis Rodriguez added 17 and 13 points respectively and Rene Estevez and Jose Rivera each had 12. For Venezuela, Tomas Ereu and Luis Diaz each had 18 points and Ivan Marquez added 12. “It is a big victory for us,” said Soto. “This win increases our chances of finishing in first place in our pool because Venezuela is one of the strong teams in our bracket.” Cuba, the favorite to win the gold medal, had four players in double figures in the win over Mexico 25-20, 18, 25, 25-19, 25-23. More Spanish  Pic: Hector Soto (Pur)

Cubans swept the gold in Beach Volley at Cartagena 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 23, 2006.- Cuba relied on its experience and unquestionable talent to sweep the gold medals in both genders in the Beach Volleyball Tournament of the XX Central American and Caribbean Games. Tamara Larrea-Dalixia Fernandez and Francisco Alvarez-Wilfredo Villa, currently taking part of the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, posted comfortable wins in route to the gold. Larrea-Fernandez triumphed in the women’s event over Mexicans Vanesa Virgen-Martha Revuelta by score of 21-14, 21-19, and Alvarez-Villa won the men’s competition over Venezuelans Jackson Henriquez-Igor Hernandez by 21-13, 21-15. In the semi finals on Sunday morning the two Cubans teams advanced while defeating their Puerto Ricans opponents. Larrea-Fernandez defeated Lyann Puig-Yamileska Yantin by 21-18, 21-9, and Alvarez-Villa beat Raul Papaleo-Joseph Gil by 21-18, 21-19. Meanwhile, Virgen-Revuelta defeated Venezuelans Frankelina Rodriguez-Alejandra Garcia 21-18, 21-9 and Henriquez-Hernandez won over Mexicans Ulises and Lombardo Ontiveros by score of 21.-17, 16-21, 15-11. More Spanish

Beach Volleyball in final stages in Cartagena 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 22, 2006.- The Puerto Rican duo of Raul Papaleo and Joseph Gil moved to the semi finals of the men’s beach volleyball tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games with a victory over the Colombian pair of Wilfredo Barrios-Herney Saldarriaga by score of 21-13, 21-17. The Puerto Ricans dominated the first set without problems but had to erase a deficit of 11-8 to obtain the triumph in the second. The defending champions Puerto Ricans now will have the opposition of the Cubans Francisco Alvarez-Wilfredo Villa in one of the semi finals. Mexicans Ulises Ontiveros-Lombardo Ontiveros had to battle for three sets to beat Costa Ricans Marcelo Arraya-Jonathan Guevara by score of 18-21, 21-12, 15-11.The Costa Ricans dominated the first set with an effective offensive combination, but the experience of the Ontiveros brothers made things to happen in the following sets. The other semi final in the men’s tournament will pit Ontiveros-Ontiveros against the Venezuelan pair Jackson Henriquez-Igor Hernandez. More Spanish

Dominican Republic revalidated the throne at Cartagena 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 21, 2006.- The Dominican Republic revalidated its title as queens of women’s volleyball at the Central American and Caribbean Games following an impressive victory over Cuba in three sets by score of 32-30, 25-19, 25-22. With the Cubans absent during the previous edition in 2002 at El Salvador, the Dominicans had very few obstacles to take the crown, but this time they left no questions while conquering the throne with a spectacular triumph over the fourth ranked team in the world. In the first match of the evening, Puerto Rico defeated Mexico 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 26-24) to take the bronze medal. Following the big battle of the first set, the 11^th ranked Dominicans dominated combining strong serves with big blockings. Annerys Vargas led the Dominicans with 11 points, Cindy Rondon and Cosiris Rodriguez each had 9 and Nurys Arias added 7. Nancy Carrillo was the best on the Cuban side with 10 points and Zoila Barros and Yumilka Ruiz had 8 and 7 respectively. “To beat a team like Cuba in three sets is a great feat,” said Cosiris Rodriguez, the Dominican captain. “Very few teams have beaten Cuba in straight sets, so it is a great honour to be part of that short list.” More Spanish

Dominican Annerys Vargas won the MVP trophy 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 21, 2006.- Dominican Annerys Vargas was elected by the media as the Most Valuable Player of the women’s volleyball tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games that closed on Friday night with an astonishing triumph for the Dominican Republic team. The slender Vargas, who plays as middle blocker but is an useful attacker down the corners, showed her versatility during the competition finishing with 57 points in five matches that included 16 serving aces and 14 blocks. Vargas, who has been one of the biggest stars of the Puerto Rican League for the past two seasons, was also elected as the best server and blocker of the tournament. Aury Cruz of Puerto Rico was the top scorer with 68 points in six matches and also the best receiver, and her sister Eva Cruz won the honor as  best attacker. Dominicans Juana Gonzalez and Rosa Caso were elected as best setter and libero respectively and Colombian Sara Montoya completed the All-Star Team as best defender. More Spanish

Cubans Alvarez-Villar in semi finals of Beach Volleyball 

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 21, 2006.- Cuba secured its advance to the semi final round of men’s beach volleyball at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games with the victories of Alvarez-Villar over Trinidadians Edwards- Thomas 21-12, 21-9 and then against Guatemala by default. They finished as leaders in Pool C with 5-0 record. Venezuelans Henriquez/Hernandez dominated Dominicans Perez-Abreu for their fourth triumph in Pool D and will be looking for another success against Costa Rica on Saturday.The two victories of the couple Ontiveros-Ontiveros of Mexico won over Medrano-Leiva of El Salvador by 21-19, 21-14 and against Colombians Barrios-Saldarriaga 21-16, 21-14, gave them the second place in Pool C. The Puerto Rican pair of Papaleo-Gil stopped the unbeaten Costa Ricans (Araya-Guevara) in consecutive sets by 21-14, 21-14. In other matches on Friday, Colombians Barrios-Saldarriaga won by default over Guatemala, Barbados beat St Kitts & Nevis 21-19, 21-13  and El Salvador edged Trinidad & Tobago 21-12, 21-12. More Spanish