Cuba finishes on top Pool C

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, May 10, 2017.- Cuba finished on top Pool C defeating Peru 3-1 (29-27, 26-24, 18-25, 25-15) in its U20 Women’s Pan American Cup final preliminary round match at San Jose, Costa Rica.

Cuba and Peru challenged one another with powerful kills but it was the Caribbean girls who held an astonishing 61-36 margin in attacks to top Pool C. Cuba awaits the results from the other groups to know if they advance directly into semifinals.

Cuba moved ahead winning the first and second sets; they recovered from a four point deficit in the first while committing numerous errors and weren’t able to sustain a five point advantage in the second for a close finish. Peru pocketed set three with huge margin to extend the actions to a fourth and final set.

Peru benefited from 41 opponent errors and committed 21. The winners prevailed in blocking by 13-11 margin and both teams scored 3 aces.

Opposite Heidy Cassanova scored a match-high of 25 points, all in kills. Diaris De La Caridad Perez and Ailama Cese added 17 points apiece. Top scorers for Peru were Katherine Regalado (13 points), Leslie Leyva (11 points) and Maricarmen Guerrero (10 points).

Diaris De La Caridad Perez, Cuba’s captain: “I trust my team, we’ve prepared hard but we make too many mistakes because we lose focus. We are very close as a team and that’s why we have positive results; our powerful spikes come from daily and demanding practice because we want to be in the world championship”.

Katherine Regalado, Peru’s captain: “We played against Cuba like equals, but our blocking and defense weren’t effective enough. We weren’t able to execute our game plan and we missed the opportunity to come on top”.

Wilfredo Robinson, Cuba’s Head Coach: “It’s very difficult to face teams that limit their errors; not like us, that despite our victory our errors are much more than our opponents. The next round will be harder and we must demand more from our players. Our physical condition is very good but we fail; we need to improve our skills and tactics”.

Marco Queiroga, Peru’s Head Coach: “During the technical time-out in each set, I was asking my players to have a better attitude. We had a spectacular second set and we were able to win the third with huge margin. Peru has everything that a team needs for winning; I think my players were too relaxed. We will be working hard for whatever comes next”.