Cuba and USA scored first day victories

SAPPORO , Japan , October 31, 2006.- Cuba and USA won their respective matches during the first day of competition at the FIVB 2006 Women’s World Championship while the other four teams from the NORCECA Confederation came out losing their encounters.

The Olympic bronze medalists Cuba needed only three sets to beat Turkey 25-20, 27-25, 25-20 in Pool D, and USA was stretched to five sets in their triumph over Kazakhstan 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 26-28, 16-14 in Pool C.

Dominican Republic and Mexico lost to Germany and Russia in Pool B respectively, Puerto Rico was defeated by Brazil in Pool C, and Costa Rica lost to Korea in Pool A.

Cubans Rosir Calderon, Nancy Carrillo and Yumilka Ruiz scored 16, 15 and 13 points respectively leading the attack for the three time Olympic queens. Lefty Nancy Metcalf was the best for the Americans with 25 points followed by Tayyiba Haneef with 21 and Heather Bown and Jenniffer Joines with 16 and 10.

"We did a good job, especially on service and we reacted perfectly to the opponents' attacks," said Yumilka Ruiz, the Cuban captain.

Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, the USA Captain said: “At the beginning, we weren't ready and didn't get into the rhythm of the match, but in the fourth and fifth sets we served very well. Even though the game was tough, we are happy with the result.

Dominican Republic lost to Germany 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 and Nurys Arias was the top Dominican scorer with 10 points.

"We were unable to break up the attacks of the German team and our team's receiving was not good and we were constantly under pressure to make good sets,” said Beato Miguel Cruz, the Dominican coach.

Mexico scored only 29 points in their lost to Russia 25-8, 25-11, 25-10 and Martha Revuelta had 6 points.

"There is a big difference between the two teams technically and physically. However, our players are continuing to improve and we were not able to show our true form in this match,” said Orlando Samuels, the Mexican coach.

Puerto Rico lost to Brazil 25-21, 25-15, 25-18 with Eva Cruz and Sheila Ocasio scoring 11 and 10 points respectively.

“We have to fix our serves, which were very poor today. We will put aside today's result and prepare for tomorrow,” said Juan Carlos Nunez, the Puerto Rican coach.

Costa Rica was defeated by Korea 25-16, 25-15, 25-17 and Verania Willis led the Costa Ricans with 10 points.

“We had no opportunity to play a big team like Korea before, and they put in a lot of points with fast plays. I think we did a good job,” said Willis, the captain of Costa Rica.