NAGOYA, Japan, November 9, 2006.- Cuba won for the second straight day at the FIVB Women’s World Championship second round, brushing aside Chinese Taipei 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 in Pool E, with a performance packed with thundering spikes, crunching blocks and booming serves.

 

Rosir Calderon led the Cuban barrage with 14 points and Yumilka Ruiz, Yanelis Santos and Nancy Carrillo each had 12 tallies.

 

“Our team is getting better as a group,” said Felipe Calderon, the coach of Cuba. “The Taipei team was very concentrated so I considered serving is the key point in order to play well.”

 

In Osaka, Azerbaijan scored a morale-boosting but nervy 3-2 victory (25-19, 16-25, 25-22, 25-27, 15-13) over the USA for their first victory in Pool F.

 

Natalya Mammadova led Azerbaijan with 34 points, and Nancy Metcalf led USA with 18 points. Tayyiba Haneef (15), Danielle Scott (14), Heather Bown (12) and Katherine Wilkins (11) were also Americans in double figures.

 

"Congratulations to Azerbaijan, they are a very good team,” said Lang Ping, the USA coach. “We knew this pool is very hard and our opponents very strong. We made lots of unforced errors and we must improve our side."

 

Also in Pool F, a determined Puerto Rico Team suffered a straight sets loss to Germany 25-23, 25-22, 25-22. Karina Ocasio and Aury Cruz led Puerto Rico with 16 and 12 points respectively.

 

"I told all the players to play their normal game, but at the end of each set, we could not really play well and that's why it was 3-0,” said Juan Carlos Nunez, the Puerto Rican coach. "We need to relax now and be fresh for the next games and continue doing our best."

 

In Pool F, Russia and Brazil kept their perfect record. Russia defeated The Netherlands in consecutive sets (25-17, 25-18, 25-16) and Brazil edged China in five sets (24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 19-17).

 

In Pool E, Italy beat Korea 25-18, 25-19, 25-13, Japan defeated Turkey 30-28, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17 and Serbia & Montenegro beat Poland 25-15, 25-22, 25-14.