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DURANGO, Mexico, August 18, 2021. – Defending
champion Cuba defeated Dominican Republic 3-1
(25-17, 29-31, 25-21, 25-19) for a successful
debut in pool B at the Men’s NORCECA Continental
Championship in Auditorio del Pueblo of Durango,
Mexico.
Cuba’s 52-34 advantage in attacks stopped
Dominican’s momentum in set two; they also led
in serves 10-7 but Dominicans held a one-point
(6-5) in serves and committed fewer unforced
errors (37-41).
Three players with double-digits led Cuba´s
scorers, opposite Jesus Herrera with 18 points
on 16 kills and two aces, outside hitter Miguel
Angel López with 17 points including two aces
and middle blocker José Israel Masso with 14
points.
On day two Cuba (1-0) will play Guatemala (0-1)
and Dominican Republic (0-1) meets United States
(1-0).
Miguel Angel López, Captain of Cuba: “We are in
good physical shape, it was a successful debut.
We were too relaxed in the second and that’s why
we began to commit unforced errors, but we
stabilized our game”.
Yosvani Muñóz, Coach of Cuba: “We were too
overconfident in the set we dropped; we have a
little more than two years without competing and
that’s the lack of communication between the
players. I am convinced that as the tournament
develops we will improve our game rhythm”.
Henry Tapia, Captain of Dominican Republic: “We
are coming out of a difficult situation caused
by the pandemic but we did a good job overall.
We hope to reach our goal and we will improve
moving forward”.
Dante Mañon, Coach of Dominican Republic: “Our
outside hitters were really off, I made some
changes to stabilize the team little by little
because we have a combination of under 23 and
senior players, we must find the way to get
better each day”. |
