Cuba to the title-match for London ticket

TIJUANA, Mexico, May 4, 2012 – Three-time Olympic champions Cuba overcame Puerto Rico in four sets (23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22) to advance to the title-match of the NORCECA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament at Tijuana Multi-Sports Gymnasium on Friday.

The winners of the competition will receive a pass to the volleyball tournament of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Veteran Yanelis Santos and young Yoana Palacios led five Cuban players with double digits in the score charts with 16 and 15 points respectively. Rosanna Giel added 14 including five blocks while Wilma Salas and Leanny Castañeda had 11 and 10.

Cuba led 11-7 the blocks category and also had the edge in serving aces 5-4.  The winners gave away 23 points with their errors and benefited from 27 made by the losers.

“It was a good game for both teams,” Cuba’s Yusidey Silie stated. “But at the key moments we played better than them.”

“We started well but in the end we made too many untimely errors,” Puerto Rico’s Vilmarie Mojica said. “Now we want to conclude the tournament well in the match for third place.”

“Our services were the keys for the victory,” Juan Carlos Gala of Cuba said. “We started attacking very well down the middle and finished up with our offense from the corners. It was a tough battle because Puerto Rico has many experienced players and they play good volleyball”.

“It was a close match, especially in the first and last set,” Puerto Rico’s David Aleman said. “At the end the strength of Cuba and their height both were factors. Their serves also did damage and cause many errors.”