Cuba wins the Caribbean battle against Puerto Rico

LANGLEY, Canada, September 24, 2013 - Cuba defeated Puerto Rico in one of the classical battles of the Caribbean. The score was 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22) and Rolando Cepeda was the top scorer of the match with 26 tallies for the Cuban unit that is now 2-0 at the Norceca Men’s Continental Championship.

Along with Cepeda, who had 3 aces, Javier Ernesto Jiménez registered 16 points (2 aces) and Danger Quintana scored 10. On the Puerto Rican side, Ezequiel Cruz made 14 points while Roberto Muñiz and captain Enrique Escalante closed with 12 apiece.

“The first set was the only one so open. In the rest of the match everything was defined by a rally. We expect to improve and learn from the mistakes We made today,” said Puerto Rico’s captain Enrique Escalante.

David Aleman, coach of Puerto Rico said: “We knew that this was going to be a tough match against Cuba. We made a lot of basic mistakes so we lost the third and fourth sets. So I hope this can help us as an experience for our next match.”

For Rodolfo Sanchez, coach of Cuba the victory was important. “They are a team from our area and We constantly face them. I am glad but We still have to go on and improve our faults. The guys went on to the court and did a good job to win this match.”

Cuban captain Alexis Lamadrid remarked that his team played without any pressure. “It is our second match but We played very well despite some mistakes. We went out and got into Puerto Rico’s rhythm and showed our typical enthusiasm.”