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PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, June 5, 2022 - The Cuban
team, champion since the second day, said
goodbye with a victory over Puerto Rico 3-0
(25-18, 25-16, 25-21) to conclude their
undefeated performance in the Challenger Final
Four at Sala 19 de Noviembre, which on the final
day was cheerfully cheered on by the local fans.
As in the previous two challenges, the host
technical director, Nicolás Vives, made changes
according to the trend in this tournament, since
his pupils have just grouped up after their
participation in foreign leagues and he needs to
see them all play.
Even so, it was a very uncomfortable opponent
for the young Puerto Rican team, which in all
aspects was inferior in attack (44-25), blocking
(7-6) and serving (10-1). Puerto Rico finished
fourth with three losses.
Corner player Marlon Yant led the offense with
12 points, escorted by spiker Osniel Mergarejo
and center back Roamy Alonso. For the rivals,
the opposite Gregory Torres was the one who
achieved the most points with 8.
Nicolás Vives, coach of Cuba: “The match was
good, the boys came out with desire, the
important thing was the victory and we achieved
it, that was the objective. Now we have a month
of preparation in Havana, vital and key to
organizing physical and technical-tactical
situations until we reach the Final Six in
Mexico in July, then the World Challenger at the
end and the Pan American Cup in early August,
already on the way to the World Championship”.
“In general, everyone in the boys plays well, it
is a generation that has been new for five years
and we are working with it, which is the most
important thing to achieve great things. The
dream has always been to be in the Olympic
Games, we have the world championship ahead of
us, we can achieve good results, although we
have to work hard because it is an extremely
strong tournament, but the team is fine and we
are going to meet our goal.
Marlon Yant, top scorer of the challenge: “It
was a game with ups and downs, we made some
mistakes that we can iron out over time. We had
an opponent who knows how to play volleyball,
but I think that when we start training next
week we are going to win in preparation for the
competitions that are coming our way”.
“This year the team has big commitments like
the South Korea Challenger in July and our goal
is to fight to qualify for the League of
Nations, and in August the World Championship,
in which we hope to have a good performance. On
an individual level, I'm meeting my teammates in
passing, receiving and communicating with them,
which is very important”.
Setter Arturo Iglesias, captain of the Puerto
Rico team: “I think we could never find a rhythm
in the match, the reception was not good, they
won the match with the serve and forcing us the
tough play, that is, outside the net , high,
uncomfortable, but we never managed to make that
adjustment.”
“I think that with a team against Cuba the
matches must be long if we want to beat them, we
have to beat them on the ground, in reception,
in serving and in passing, and we could never do
that. Avoid as many mistakes. We have to work
hard, mature more as a team, we have a lot of
young talent, but we have to train a lot more if
we want to have results”. |
