Cuba, Puerto Rico and USA to play for 13-16 positions at U19

RIFFA, Bahrain, August 25, 2017 – Lorenzo Cortesia was a force at the net as he scored five of Italy’s 17 blocks to win 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) against Cuba in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship at the Isa City Sports Hall on Friday.

Cortesia had a match-high 13 points, then Davide Gardini and Daniele Lavia scored 11 points apiece for Italy.

Juan Barrera powered Argentina’s offence in their 3-1 (26-24, 25-12, 21-25, 25-17) win over Puerto Rico in the classification for 9th-16th place.

Barrera led all scorers with 22 points and Federico Jose Seia was Argentina’s second best scorer with 14 points. Pedro Molina and Gabriel Garcia made 14 and 13 points for Puerto Rico on a losing effort.

Wang Chao sparked the offence of China to take a 3-1 (24-26, 25-20, 29-27, 25-20) win over USA in the classification for 9th-16th place.

Wang recorded 12 attacks and three service aces, then Li Ao and Tian Cong also scored in double-figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively. USA also had three double-digit scorers led by Joel Schneidmiller, who topped all scorers with 16 points, followed by Jonathan Bowles and Jerod Nelsen who charted 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Mexico forced the decider upon Chile, to eventually win (19-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-22, 15-7) in the 17th-20th place playoff on Friday. 

Mexico opposite Diego Gonzalez bested all scorers on the board with 26 points (23 attacks, two blocks and a service ace) with captain Raymond Gerald Stephens also helping out with 11 more points. Esteban Mulchi led the Chilean side, scoring a total of 19 points in the match.