Puerto Rico beat
USA, Cuba and Dominican Republic
also won
BAYAGUANA, Dominican Republic,
August 23, 2006.- Puerto Rico,
Cuba and Dominican Republic won
its opening matches at the
NORCECA Boys U-19 Tournament, a
qualifier for next year’s FIVB
World Championship.
Puerto Ricans defeated USA Team
in straight sets (26-24, 25-21.
25-20) with great floor defense
coverage and good attack.
Emmanuel Batista was the top
scorer for Puerto Rico with 13
points and Omar Rivera chipped
in 11 points.
“After a slow start we could
adjust our game and used the
attack down the corners avoiding
the size of our opponents,” said
Batista.
“It was a 3-0 outcome but it was
not an easy match because nere
is easy to defeat USA,” he
added.
“Without taking anything off our
rivals, we committed too many
mistakes and that caused our
loss,” said Teddy Adamczyk, the
American captain.
Carson Clark with 16 points and
Austin Ellis and Bradley Lawson
each with 8, were the best for
USA.
Cuba beat Mexico 3-0 (25-23,
25-22 y 25-19) with Armando
Danger leading the way with 16
points and Rolando Cepeda
chipping in 11 points.
“Even that we won, it was a very
tense game because we had 10
years without competing at this
level,” said Manuel Espinosa,
the Cuban coach. “We had some up
and downs but finally we could
solve them and our game will
improve with the competition.”
“Our serves and the attack were
the key factors,” said Alberto
Rosa, the captain of Cuba, who
finished with 9 points.
Francisco Enriquez and Carlos
Ruvalcaba were the top scorers
of Mexico with 10 and 7
respectively.
In the last match of the
evening, host Dominican Republic
beat Guatemala 3-1 (25-12,
21-25, 25-13, 25-18). |