USA and Cuba to clash for the gold medal at NORCECA’s U-21 

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 12, 2006.- USA and Cuba will meet in the gold medal match of the NORCECA U-21 Men’s Continental Tournament with both teams having secured berth for the 2007 FIVB Junior World Championship.

In the semi finals round, the USA Team defeated Canada by score of 25-20, 25-15, 25-23 and Cuba beat Puerto Rico 25-17, 26-24, 25-20. In the match for the fifth position Mexico had an easy 25-16, 25-19, 25-12 win over Dominican Republic.

The Sunday’s match between Canada and Puerto Rico will give to the winner the remaining NORCECA’s sport for the world competition.

Maxwell Holt and Austin Zahn led USA with 14 and 11 points respectively and Canadian Andre Morin scored 11 points.

“We have reached the goal of qualifying to the World Championship and now the remaining task is tomorrow to complete our objectives,” said Andy Reid, the USA coach.

Cuba relied on its powerful attack to prevail in a battle in the second set of the match against Puerto Rico and the rest is history.

Yadier Sanchez led Cuba with 17 points and Rolando Junquin added 13. Bolivar Bermudez, Ulises Maldonado and Andres Cruz each had 7 points for Puerto Rico.

 “It was a tough match but our strength was the key at the crucial moments,” said Juan Gala, the Cuban coach. “We qualified to next year’s World Championship and can bring some other players to our team, but now our focus is on winning the NORCECA Tournament.”

Juan Virgen was the best scorer in the Mexican win with 12 points, and Pedro Rangel contributed 11 points. Dominican Jorge Galva recorded 14 points.

“We finished in the fifth position but I am not satisfied,” said Luis Leon, the Mexican coach. “Our goal of being among the top three was not achieved.”

On Sunday, Dominican Republic and Guatemala will meet in a match for the sixth place before the closing encounters Puerto Rico-Canada and Cuba-USA.