|
DURANGO,
Mexico, August 22, 2021- Puerto Rico will play
for Gold and qualified to the FIVB 2022 World
Championship upsetting Cuba 3-1 (25-16, 19-25,
26-24, 31-29) in semifinals at the Men’s NORCECA
Continental Championship in Durango, Mexico.
Puerto Rico struck first with a convincing first
set, while Cuba came back with strength over the
net to even the scores. Puerto Rico’s victory
came in a nail biting fourth set 31-29 finish
not before recovering from a four point deficit
(20-24) for a possible tie-break; Puerto Rico
missed three match points before moving into the
gold medal match.
Opposite Gabriel García led Puerto Rico’s
scorers with 18 points on 15 kills, 2 blocks and
one ace, outside hitters Pedro Molina and
Pelegrin Vargas contributed with 11 and 10
points respectively.
Cuban Jesús Herrera scored a match-high of 24
points; while his teammates outside hitter
Miguel Angel Lopez tallied 18 points and middle
blocker José Israel Masso registered 10 points.
Puerto Rico took advantage on scoring 44 points
from Cuba’s unforced errors while Cuba led in
every skill with 55-47 in attacks, 12-7 in
blocks and 6-3 in service points; Puerto Rico
committed 21 errors.
Arturo Iglesias, Captain of Puerto Rico: “It was
difficult to overcome Cuba’s strength, on
several occasions we came from behind but our
patience was worth it, we waited to score one
point at a time confident of our skills”.
Oswald Antonetti, Coach of Puerto Rico: “Cuba
has been one of the best in NORCECA for their
ability in capturing players, their physical
qualities and preparation; and on our side good
volleyball that needs this kind of experiences
to grow and for our identity. We are glad with
this project”.
Yosvani Muñoz, Coach of Cuba: “Puerto Rico took
well the opportunities, we committed too many
errors during the entire game, and we lost many
serves. Tomorrow we aim for the podium. We lost
the direct qualification to Worlds but hopefully
our ranking position will allow us to be there”. |
