Four teams vying for last berth in U18 FIVB World Championship

HAVANA, Cuba, March 14, 2015 – Teams from Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Cuba will be battling for the last position available for NORCECA and South America to the FIVB Girls’ World Championship in Peru next August, when the U18 Pan American Cup gets underway in Havana on Tuesday.

Those squads will be grouped in Pool B of the eight-team competition that also includes sides from Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru, already qualified to the world championship, competing in Pool A.

The winners of Pool B in the preliminary round of the event will get the ticket to the competition to be played in Lima, the Peruvian capital, from August 7 to 16.

Three NORCECA teams –Dominican Republic, United States and Mexico- qualified as the top teams of the 2014 Continental Championship held in San Jose, Costa Rica. Brazil and Argentina got their tickets through the South American Championship.

The U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup is being organized by the Pan American Volleyball Union.

It will be the third edition of the U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup. Argentina won in 2011 when the event took place in Tijuana, Mexico while Brazil prevailed in 2013 in Guatemala City.

The preliminary round-robin phase of the tournament consists of four daily matches at the Sports Palace of Ciudad Deportiva in Havana with pool winners advancing directly to the semifinal round scheduled on March 21.

Teams placed second and third will play crossed matches in the quarterfinals on March 20 following the contest for the seventh position. The medal matches will take place on March 21 preceded by the contest for fifth place.

The preliminary round calendar is the following:

March 17

14:00    Argentina v Peru

16:00    Puerto Rico v Chile

18:00    Dominican Republic v Mexico

20:00    Cuba v Costa Rica

March 18

14:00    Costa Rica v Puerto Rico

16:00    Mexico v Argentina

18:00    Peru v Dominican Republic

20:00    Cuba v Chile

March 19

14:00    Chile v Costa Rica

16:00    Mexico v Peru

18:00    Dominican Republic v Argentina

20:00    Cuba v Puerto Rico

Past Podium Positions

2011     ARG      MEX      DOM

2013     BRA      PUR      DOM