Cubans came out winners in opening day of second round 

NAGOYA, Japan, November 8, 2006.- – The first day of action in the second round of the 2006 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship saw Cuba coming out as the only team from the NORCECA Confederation to get a victory.

In Pool E, the Olympic bronze medalists dealt a severe blow to host Japan winning a battle 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 to improve their chances of a top-two finish in the second round.

Rosir Calderon (20), Yumilka Ruiz (19) and Nancy Carrillo (15) were the Cuban leading scorers.

“It was a good game for both teams, and I believe the better team won. Our tactical team play was very good, and so was our serving,” said Ruiz, the Cuban Captain.

In Pool F in Osaka, China came from behind to overcome the United States 3-1. The Chinese ran out 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 winners, and Puerto Rico lost to Russia 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-20).

Nancy Metcalf was the best American scorer with 20 points, Katherine Wilkins added 15 and Heather Bown and Danielle Scott had 12 and 11. Aury Cruz and Karina Ocasio had 7 and 6 points respectively for Puerto Rico.

The US coach Jenny Lang Ping, remained confident of her squad: “I know USA is strong and we have to play under certain pressure. It was a good opportunity for us to see how well we can play under this kind of pressure.”

"The Russian team is in great form and their service game was really good,” said Juan Carlos Nunez, the Puerto Rican coach. “I believe that my team played to their best and worked very hard but the Russians are on a different level to us.”

Also in Pool F, Brazil swept to a 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 and The Netherlands beat Germany in a nail-biting finish 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 16-14.

In Pool E, Serbia & Montenegro scored a comprehensive defeat of Korea 25-23, 25-19, 25-22, World champions Italy began with a business-like 3-0 victory over Poland 25-19, 25-22, 25-13, and Turkey defeated Chinese Taipei 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17.