Puerto Rico and Cuba lead the NORCECA’s U-19 

BAYAGUANA, Dominican Republic, August 23, 2006.- Puerto Rico and Cuba kept their unbeaten records in two outings at the NORCECA Boys’ U-19 Tournament, where the two top ranked team will qualify for the 2007 FIVB World Championship.

The Puerto Ricans beat Dominican Republic in straight sets 25-21, 25-17 y 25-16 and the Cubans also blanked Canada 3-0, earning a spot in the semi finals of next Saturday.

Carlos Hernandez was the best scorer of Puerto Rico with 13 points and Emmanuel Batista added 10. Wascar Garcia had 13 tallies for the hosts Dominicans and Hayden Reynoso contributed with 11 in the losing effort.

Armando Danger led three Cubans in double figures with 15 points and Yunier Arias and Rolando Abreu contributed 13 and 11 points respectively.

Also on Wednesday, USA (1-1) easily defeated Guatemala by score of 25-14, 25-8, 25-19, with Tyler Jaynes leading the attack with 12 points and Carson Clarke adding 8 points.

Puerto Rico is looking to finish first in Pool A securing a semi final berth and will meet Guatemala (0-2) on Thursday. The quarterfinals are scheduled on Friday, with the semi finals on Saturday and the finals on Sunday.

The positions are as follows:

Pool A: Puerto Rico (2-0), USA (1-1), Dominican Republic (1-1) and Guatemala (0-2). Pool B: Cuba (2-0), Canada (0-1), Mexico (0-1).

Thursday’s matches: Puerto Rico vs. Guatemala, Canada vs Mexico and USA vs Dominican Republic.