Cuba and Puerto Rico to showdown for first place in pool B

GATINEAU, Canada, August 17, 2010 - Jorge Antonio Lopez and Christian Rivera scored 11 points each to lead Puerto Rico to a 25-19, 25-13, 25-11 victory over Honduras on Tuesday at the NORCECA junior men’s volleyball championships.

“We’re happy to get the win but we could have played better,” said Puerto Rico’s head coach Ramon Lawrence whose squad is 2-0.  “We made many mistakes blocking but we expect to be more focused for our game against Cuba.”

Puerto Rico team captain Ramon Burgos said the players weren’t thinking ahead during their match.

“We tried to focus on today’s game solely,” said Burgos.  “Now we can focus on Cuba and we are really looking forward to it.”

Honduras, 0-2, produced a decent first set but fell apart afterwards. Both the coach and team captain wanted the sets to be closer.

“Puerto Rico is a great team and one of the favourites,” said Honduras head coach Carlos Randolfo Funez.  “Our players had trouble receiving their serve and we just didn’t find our game today."

“We expected more but it’s a great competition here,” said Honduras team captain Josue Carbajal Vargas. “I knew were facing two great teams but I thought we’d make more of an impact in those matches.”

Vargas and Jose Elias Barahona Diaz were Honduras’s top scorers with five points each.