Cubans stop Puerto Rican reaction 

Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2015 – Cuba achieved an important victory over Puerto Rico 25-18, 25-12, 18-25, and 25-18 in an exciting game of the Pool B of the III U18 Girls’ Pan American Volleyball Cup from which the holder of the last available ticket to the World Championship will come up.  

At the Sports City the local team, acclaimed by its audience, dominated the two first sets. Nevertheless they took the initiative again to achieve their first victory.     

The score was led by the host players Diaris Pérez (13), Heidy Casanova and Kitania Medina (both, 11), and Gretell Moreno (10). On the Puerto Rican side, Dariana Hollingsworth was the only one who had a double-digit tally (14). 

Tomás Fernández, the Cuban coach, expressed that “this game had a great significance. We made the first step and avenged the result of the last year when Puerto Rico defeated us in the U20 Cup. It does not mean we think the other commitments are easy, but my team has potential. Although it got even on my nerves and they were much concerned about spiking and neglected the reception.” 

Its captain, Aidchi Aguero, stated after breaking out the inertia of the debut, “without any doubt the unity led us to the triumph, there was a lot of devotion and readiness; although we should improve the destabilising moments. However, we attained in the fourth set to recover our game level, but we will not be confident with the other opponents as we are aimed at qualifying.” 

The Puerto Rican coach, Luis Aponte, recognised the Cuban superiority in the two first sets, “we made some adjustments in the game planning and eventually it worked out. We knew our rivals were extremely strong and we bet on the service as they are good at spiking and they also had difficulty in the receiving. Nevertheless, they were able to stabilise it and with their power they dominated us.” 

The captain, Joyscelyn Coronel, said that “it was a complicated match that we could have won. However we lacked more effusiveness in the court, as well as communication and intensity as they are taller and stronger than us, but we our mentality we could have defeated them.”