Cuba Earns Second Win at U23 Pan Am Cup in Xalapa

XALAPA, Mexico, September 4, 2024. - Cuba earned its second victory in the Women's U23 Pan American Cup after defeating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-14) on Wednesday in Xalapa, Veracruz.

This was Cuba's second consecutive win in Pool A, and they will face the Dominican Republic on Thursday in their final match of the preliminary round. Costa Rica, with a 0-2 record, will play against Chile. The top team in the pool advances to the semifinals of the competition.

Cuba outplayed Costa Rica using all of its players, making various lineup changes, and ended with a 41-22 advantage in attacks, 10-1 in blocks, and 4-1 in serves. Costa Rica committed fewer unforced errors (20-26).

Cuban outside hitters Lianet García and Alejandra Gómez were the top scorers of the match with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Melina Abarca was Costa Rica's top scorer with 7 points.

Lianet García, Cuba's top scorer: "We tried several new things during the game because the coach made lineup changes, all to help us develop individually and as a team. Tomorrow, we face a strong opponent (Dominican Republic), and the goal is to win, play hard, and give it our all. We will fight, as is customary in Cuba, and we hope to secure the berth in the semifinals”.

Camila Arias, libero of Costa Rica: “Cuba gave us the tough match we expected; they are a great opponent. The match was challenging, not easy; we fought, but we lacked the right attitude. We met the objectives we set for the match: not to stop fighting for the balls and to improve our serve, which I believe we executed more effectively in the last set”.