Mexico defeated Cuba in NORCECA’s U-20 

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 1, 2006.- Host Mexico produced a major surprise in defeating Cuba and keeping an unbeaten record in Pool A at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament.

Supported by an enthusiastic crowd of more than 3,000, the Mexicans beat the Cubans (0-2) by score of 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 29-27, and now will meet Dominican Republic on Wednesday for the top spot in their pool and a direct ticket to the semi final round of the competition.

In other matches on Tuesday, Puerto Rico beat Canada in four sets, Dominican Republic defeated Trinidad & Tobago and USA crushed Costa Rica.

During the whole match, the Mexicans showed consistency and the blocking created problems to their rivals. Their attack was led by Captain Zaida Orellana.

The win marked the first all-time victory for Mexico over Cuba in junior women’s volleyball and the first in all levels of the gender since 1970.

“It was a well fought match and we entered the court with a positive mentality about our chances to win it,” said Ricardo Ponce, the Mexican coach. “Now we have to focus on the Dominicans, another great team with a good and long preparation for this event.”

Meanwhile, Ana Ivis Diaz, the Cuban coach said that her team “have not played and the worst enemy have been the lack of concentration.”

Puerto Rico recovered from a lost in the first set and erased one 15-20 deficit in the second to defeat the Canadians 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-13. Both teams have 1-1 record in Pool B trailing USA.

“They (the Canadians) played better than I expected. We worked in our serves and blocking and it paid fruits,” said Puerto Rican coach Luis Garcia. “Besides, today I had a better performance by the group and the middle blockers made their presence.”

The Dominicans maintained their unbeaten record with a 25-15, 25-14, 25-4 victory over the Trinidadians in a match where Coach Wilson Sanchez used all the players.

“It was a match that gave me options to utilize and evaluate different players. The most important thing is that we kept control of the game and the strength or our serves and attacks,” he said.

In the other match, USA walked over Costa Rica with a 25-3, 25-9, 25-9 triumph.

The Ranking after two days of play: Pool A: Dominican Republic (2-0), Mexico (2-0), Cuba (0-2) and Trinidad & Tobago (0-2). Pool B: USA (2-0), Puerto Rico (1-1), Canada (1-1) and Costa Rica (0-2).