CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 11, 2008.- Puerto Rican Hector “Picky” Soto was selected the Most Valuable Player of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier. Soto was the second best scorer of the competition won by USA.

Mexican Ivan Contreras was the top scorer and his countryman Tomas Aguilera was the player selected as “Rising Star.” American Richard Lambourne was credited as best receiver and best libero, and he was joined in the All-Star by team mates Sean Rooney as best spiker, Ryan Millar as top blocker and Clayton Stanley as the best server. More Spanish

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 11, 2008.- USA won a ticket to the Beijing Olympic Games with a clear victory over Puerto Rico in the final match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The American blocking (13-5) proved to be too much for the host Puerto Ricans. The score was 25-20, 25-19, 25-20.

Seldom used Sean Rooney was spectacular today for the winning side, attacking way over the blocking and finishing with 16 points, while David Lee and Clayton Stanley each had 10 points. Ryan Millar had five blocks among his 8 points. Hector Soto had 16 points for Puerto Rico.  More Spanish

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 11, 2008.- Cuba finished in the third position at the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament after prevailing against Canada by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23.

Rolando Jurquin and Robertlandy Simon led five Cuban players in double figures with 18 and 16 respectively. Henry Bell had 13 and Yoandry Leal and Raydel Corrales each had 11 tallies. Fred Winters, Chris Wolfenden and Dallas Soonias had 21, 19 and 16 points respectively for Canada. “I want to thank all the fans of Puerto Rico for their great support,” More Spanish

To all the loyal fans of the sport of volleyball, we do express our most sincere gratitude for the support that you have given to our Men’s National Team during these six days of this qualifier for the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.

During this week, the eyes of the world have been focused on Puerto Rico because the success that we have achieved has travelled the whole planet.

We have carried out our signal through radio, television and internet in and outside of Puerto Rico so nobody could stay without enjoying this historic tournament, but you, those who night after night crowded this court and enjoyed in live our victories, I paid my respect for trusting in this team and for accompanying day after day on our way to Beijing.

Once again, thanks and God bless Puerto Rico. Spanish

Carlos Beltran, President of Puerto Rico Volleyball Federation

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 11, 2008.- Mexico recovered from losing the first set and went on to beat Dominican Republic in four sets to finish fifth at the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier. The score was 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20.

Once again veteran Ivan Contreras topped the Mexican offense with 21 points. Four other team mates had double figures: Gustavo Meyer and Irving Bricio added 13 apiece while Juan Garcia and Tomas Aguilera contributed 12 and 10 respectively.  More Spanish

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 11, 2008.- Trinidad & Tobago defeated Barbados in five sets to finish in the seventh position at the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The score was 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 15-11.

Marc-Anthony Honore led the winners with 28 points and Jessel Davis and Christian Francois added 13 apiece. For Barbados, Fabian Cox and Elwyn Oxley each scored 13 and Romer Agard had 11. It was only the second win ever for the Trinidadians against their Caribbean rivals with the other coming two years  More Spanish

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2008.- Puerto Rico will meet USA in the decisive match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The host team moved to the gold medal match with a win over Canada 41-39, 25-21, 25-19 on Thursday night before more than 9,000 spectators.

Hector “Picky” Soto led Puerto Rico with 27 points and Jose Rivera and Luis Rodriguez added 11 and 10 respectively. Dallas Soonias (22), Fred Winters (11) and Steve Brinkman were in double digits for Canada. “We have played a great match and our serves complicated the game for the Canadians,” More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2008.- USA moved one step closer to Beijing while advancing to the gold medal match in the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a victory over Cuba in straight sets by score of 25-22, 27-25, 25-18.

The Americans will play against the winner of the match Canada-Puerto Rico later today. Clayton Stanley and Riley Salmon each had 11 points and Sean Rooney and Ryan Millar contributed 9 and 8 respectively.  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2008.- Dominican Republic defeated Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 28-26) advancing to a match against Mexico on Friday for the fifth position of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The Dominicans had to come from behind (22-24) in the third set. One spike by Victor Batista followed by one service winner by Jose Caceres sealed the victory. Caceres had 17 points, including four blocks, and Batista provided 14 to the winning effort. More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2008.- Mexico advanced to the match for fifth place of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier by defeating Barbados in straight sets by score of 25-13, 25-17, 25-15.

Iván Contreras, who is leading all the scorers in the competition, added 20 points increasing his total to 97. Gustavo Meyer had 13 and Juan Virgen contributed 8. Elwyn Oxley was the best scorer of Barbados with 9 tallies.  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 9, 2008.- Host team Puerto Rico survived an intense battle of five sets against Mexico and advanced to a semi final match with Canada in the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The score was 25-23, 30-28, 22-25, 19-25, 15-11.

Hector Soto led Puerto Rico with 24 points and Jose Rivera added 19. Enrique Escalante contributed 11 and Luis Rodriguez came off the bench to score 4 points in the tie-breaker. More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 9, 2008.- Cuba will meet USA in a semi final match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They advanced by defeating Dominican Republic 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 in the quarterfinals.

Rolando Jurquin led Cuba with 15 points, Raydel Corrales added 12 and Henry Bell contributed 10. Odelvis Dominico and Roberlandy Simon each added 9 points. Jose Caceres and Victor Batista totalled 21 and 10 points for Dominican Republic. More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 8, 2008.- Third world-ranked USA joined Canada in advancing to the semi final round of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier after a victory over host Puerto Rico in straight sets before an enthusiastic local paid crowd of 9,750 at Coliseo Hector Sola Bezares. The scores were 25-21, 25-23, 25-22.

The triumph secured USA a place in the semi final round. Puerto Rico will meet Mexico on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. Clayton Stanley and Ryan Millar led USA with 15 and 12 respectively and David Lee,  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 8, 2008.- Canada won Pool B of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier by defeating Mexico 25-21, 25-19, 26-24.

The Canadians finished with a 3-0 mark and advanced directly to the semi final round. Mexico (1-2) finished third and will meet the loser of the match between USA and Puerto Rico in the quarter finals.Dallas Soonias and Fred Winters topped Canada with 15 and 12 points respectively.  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 8, 2008.- The Dominican Republic defeated Barbados in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) and advanced to a quarterfinals match against Cuba on Wednesday. The Dominicans (1-2) ended in third place of Pool A and Barbados finished in fourth (0-3).

Jose Caceres led three Dominicans in double figures with 15 points, followed by Victos Batista and Eury Almonte with 11 and 10 respectively. Fabian Cox and Renier Grace each had 9 points for Barbados.“We came trying to secure the advance to the next phase and we did it,”   More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 8, 2008.- Cuba defeated Trinidad & Tobago in consecutive sets (25-13, 25-8, 25-15) in the first match of Tuesday at the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Cuba (2-1) finished in second place of Pool B while Trinidad & Tobago (0-3) placed fourth.

Roberlandy Simon was the best scorer of Cuba with 10 points, including three blocks,  More Spanish  P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 7, 2008.- Puerto Rico won a tough battle against Dominican Republic in three sets (28-26, 25-21, 38-36) advancing to a decisive match against USA for the first place in Pool A of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier on Tuesday.

Hector Soto topped Puerto Rico with 26 points and was helped in the attack by Jose Rivera and Luis Rodriguez with 15 and 12 points respectively. Dominican Jose Caceres led all the scorers with 29 and Victor Batista added 19. “It was a very emotional game and we had problems adjusting our blocking even that it was against two players,”  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 7, 2008.- Dallas Soonias scored 28 points and Fred Winters added 20 leading Canada to a 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, 25-20 victory over Cuba in the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Canadians are one win away of winning Pool ?

Murray Grapentine contributed 10 points for the Cannucks. Raydel Corrales, Rolando Jurquin and Roberlandy Simon had 19, 14 and 13 points respectively for Cuba. More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 7, 2008.- USA rolled past Barbados in straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-10, 25-16 for their second victory in as many outings at the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Sean Rooney led USA with 20 points, Ryan Miller added 9 and Clayton Stanley contributed 8 points, including five aces. Shawn Simpson had 9 tallies for Barbados. “We have a good practice in the morning and were prepared for the match,”  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 7, 2008.- Mexico (1-1) took an easy victory in straight sets over Trinidad & Tobago (0-2) in the first match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier in Day Two of action. The scores were 25-20, 25-13, 25-11.

Ivan Contreras and Juan Garcia had 12 and 11 points respectively for Mexico while Trinidadian Marc Honore had 9. “I hope my team can get into a better rhythm as the competition continues,” said Jorge Azair.  More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2008.- Puerto Rico breezed past Barbados in the nightcap of Day One of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier winning by score of  25-13, 25-12, 25-19.

Victor Rivera was the best Puerto Rican with 13 points and Enrique Escalante and Rene Esteves added 7 and 6 respectively.

“I think we have to play better tomorrow against Dominican Republic,” said Carlos Cardona, the coach of Puerto Rico.   More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2008.- Cuba downed Mexico in straight sets relying on their usual strong attack. The score was 25-19, 25-23, 25-20.

Raydel Corrales was the star of Cuba with 17 points, scoring in 15 of his 21 killing attempts, and Rolando Jurquin and Henry Bell each had 12. Mexican Ivan Contreras led all the scorers with 21 points. “I think both teams can play better than today,” said Orlando Samuels, the Cuban coach.    More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2008.- USA debuted in the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier with a convincing victory in straight sets over the Dominican Republic by scores of 25-13, 25-19, 25-19. The Americans totalled 11 blocks against only 2 by the losers.

Gabriel Gardner, Clayton Stanley and Thomas Hoff each contributed 8 points for USA, Victor Batista and Jose Caceres had 13 and 10 for Dominican Republic. More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2008.- Canada won the first match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier by defeating Trinidad & Tobago in straight sets by scores of 25-9, 25-14, 25-15.

Dallas Soonias led Canada with 11 points and Luis-Pierre Manville came off the bench to add 10 tallies. Steve Brinkman contributed 8 points.

“We focused in the process of making the right plays to win the points,” said Glenn Hoag, the Canadian coach. “We will try to do the same against Cuba tomorrow.” More Spanish P2 form

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 5, 2008.- There are at least four teams with fair chances to win the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament and grab the only ticket available to the next Olympic Games in Bejing, China.

That’s the way of thinking of the coaches expressed during the press conference held on Saturday before the General Technical Meeting.

USA, the only team to defeat Brazil in the World Cup, almost qualified to the Olympics in that event, only to see its chances to vanish away after losing to Russia in a decisive match of five sets. More Spanish

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 2, 2008.- The 2008 NORCECA Men’s Continental Olympic Qualification Championship will be played January 6-11 in the city of Caguas, with USA as the top favourite of the eight-team event to be held at Hector Sola Bezares Coliseum.

Following its fourth-place finish at the FIVB World Cup, Team USA’s world ranking has improved from fifth to third behind Brazil and Russia. Nevertheless, it can expect a battle from several NORCECA teams, particularly Canada, Cuba and Puerto Rico, which defeated the United States in four sets at the World Cup and went on to finish sixth.  More Spanish