Cuba earns its first win at the Continental Championship

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA. August 31, 2023: Cuba swept a young Costa Rican squad 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-9) as Group B pool play continued Thursday afternoon at the 2023 NORCECA Senior Women’s Volleyball Continental Championship in Quebec, which runs from August 29 to September 3 at the PEPS’ Amphithéatre Desjardins-Université Laval.

Today, Cuba dominated in all skills – attacking 36-25, blocking 10-2, serving 9-0 and earned 20 points from Costa Rica’s errors (opposed to 11 errors on the Cuban side).

Cuban Ivy Vila Wittingham led all scoring with 14 (10 attacking points, 2 blocks and 2 aces).

Tamara Espinoza Rojas led Costa Rica in points with 10 (9 attacking points and 1 block).

Cuba advances to the tournament quarter finals, which are held on Friday.

Regla Torres, assistant coach of Cuba: “The team looked a bit better both in blocking and serving, but we would have liked to see what we saw today in the previous matches. The United States and the Dominican Republic are higher-level teams, and it seems to me that our team was under pressure. Hopefully, this is a step forward for the upcoming games.”  

Jose Miguel Brinceño, coach of Costa Rica: “We are happy with the first set against Cuba, we knew we could have a better performance than we did against the United States and the Dominican Republic, however, we didn't maintain the same level of attack and confidence during the second and third sets. We made some changes, aiming for a better block in position two, but we are lacking in blocking our opponents. Our serving was good, we targeted the sidelines and avoided serving to the libero. Cuba’s attacking power was greater than ours.”