HAVANA, Cuba, June 3, 2007.- A victory over Russia was as unexpected as it could be, but the young Cuba Team made it happen last Saturday with an astonishing triumph in the second match of their World League series before thousands of fans at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.

The partisan crowd seemed to go crazy reacting after every point made by the local team in the fourth set of the match that finished 27-25, 25-19, 21-25, 30-28. Cuba improved its record to 3-1 in Pool C.

The lethal serves by Rolando Jurquin allowed Cuba to come from behind in the fourth set when they erased a 19-24 deficit for the delight of the fans. More Spanish 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 3, 2007.- The Dominican Republic recovered from a shaky start and beat Trinidad & Tobago 27-25, 25-13, 25- 23 in the last match of Sunday at the Men’s Pan American Cup.

The athletic Trinidadians made a strong effort in the first set and fought evenly against the host Dominicans who finally prevailed with the serves and spikes of their star Elvis Contreras.

On Monday, the Dominican Republic plays against Panama while Trinidad & Tobago meets Cuba in Pool B. In Pool A, Mexico debuts against Canada and Puerto Rico has a rest day. More Spanish 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 3, 2007.- Puerto Rico edged Canada in tour sets (25-17, 17-25. 25-17, 28-26) in the first match of Pool A of the Men’s Volleyball Pan American Cup.

Victor Bird led Puerto Rico with 19 points and Roberto Muniz added 14. Mark Dodd topped Canada with 11 points and Kris Brand and Toonjie Van Lankvelt each contributed 9 tallies.

“We are preparing our team for the Pan American Games. More Spanish  P-2 for match

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 3, 2007.- Cuba scored an easy victory in straight sets (25-14, 25-21, 25-18) over Panama in the opening match of the Men’s Volleyball Pan American Cup.

The Cubans established their strong blocking and did not have problems controlling the match from start to finish, with a light resistance from the Panamanian in the second set.

Raidel Gonzalez paced Cuba with 16 points, including two blocks, and Yadier Sanchez, Raidel Delgado and Osmany Camejo added 14, 10 and 9 tallies respectively. Domingo Avila was the top scorer of Panama with 13 points. More Spanish  P-2 for match

Chris Green (Canada): “This tournament represents a good opportunity for our young players to get the international experience and for some veterans the chance to return to this type of competition. We are excited to compete against the other NORCECA teams and really appreciate the invitation to participate.” 

Juan Gala (Cuba): “We are bringing a young team with good technical level. It is a blend of seniors and juniors and this competition allow us to continue the preparation of our main junior players for the World Championship in Morocco.  More Spanish

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin, June 2, 2007.- The USA Men’s Volleyball Team held off a charge from an improved Japanese team and defeated Japan 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 27-25,  25-19) in their FIVB World League match on Friday at the Resch Center.

Gabe Gardner paced the USA offense with 22 points, Reid Priddy added 19 and Ryan Millar scored 12. Yusuke Ishijima had 23 for Japan and Yu Koshikawa added 13.

With the victory, the United States improves to 2-1 to lead World League Pool B. Japan falls to 0-1. In the other Pool B match on Friday, host Italy defeated France 3-2. More Spanish

BEILUN, China, June 1, 2007.- Cuba and Dominican Republic finished in the second and third positions at the 2007 China Women’s International Cup in Beilun, a four-nation event won by host China.

In a match between unbeaten teams, China took the gold medal by defeating Cuba in five sets by scores of 25-18, 15-25, 18-25, 25-16, 15-11.

Li Juan was the best scorer for China with 16 points and Zhou Suhng and Xue Ming contributed 12 and 11 respectively. Cuban Yumilka Ruiz was the top scorer of the match with 18 tallies, Yanelis Santos chipped in 16 and Nancy Carrillo added 12.  More Spanish

BEILUN, China, June 1, 2007 – Cuba had to fight five sets to beat a resilient Netherlands Team in a 25-12, 25-22, 22-25, 27-29, 15-13 victory at the four-nation China's International Women Volleyball Tournament. 

Yanelis Santos recorded 18 points leading the Cuban offense and Nancy Carrillo and Rosir Calderon added 14 and 11 respectively. 

Dutch Sanna Visser led all the scorers with 19 points of her own and Floorie Meijners had 13 points and Alice Bloom chipped in 11.  More Spanish

AURORA, Illinois, May 31, 2007.- The Dominican Republic won the U.S. National Girls Volleyball Mizuno Classic, a competition for athletes under 17 years-old.

Twenty-four teams, divided in four pools, took part in the competition held at the Great Lakes Center and organized by the Sports Performance Club of Illinois.

In the match for the gold medal, Dominican Republic defeated Sports Performance Elite by scores of 21-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-15.

Dominican Jeoselina Rodriguez was elected as the MVP of the tournament and her team mate Jennifer Calcano resulted in the best attacker. More Spanish

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 31, 2007.- Cuba and Puerto Rico announced their respective squads for the Second Men’s Pan American Cup in Santo Domingo starting next Sunday.

The Cuban team, a blend of seniors and juniors, will be coached by Juan Gala. Puerto Rico will have Jorge Perez Vento as acting coach replacing Luis Enrique Ruiz who won’t be able to make the trip due to personal reasons.

The Cuban team have opposites Yadier Sanchez, Yoandri Leal, Raidel Delgado and Raidel Gonzalez, while Darien Ferrer, Osmany Camejo and David de la Torre are the middle-blockers. More Spanish

BEILUN, China, May 31, 2007 -- Cuba and China opened the Beilun Cup women volleyball tournament, the second leg of China's International Women's Volleyball Tournament, on a winning note Wednesday, but in a totally different fashion. 

Cuba fought back from a 0-2 deficit to outlast the Dominican Republic in a five-set thriller 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 20-18, and in the second match China proved too strong for the Netherlands winning 25-16, 25-18, 26-24. 

The Dominicans controlled the early stages of the match against a strangely subdued Cuba. But the Cubans can never be written off, and Rosir Calderon and Yumilka Ruiz led the response as they rallied to claim the next two sets. More Spanish

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 29, 2007.- The Second Men’s Pan American Cup will be held in Santo Domingo on June 3-8 with the participation of seven teams. The tournament is a qualifier for the 2008 America ’s Cup in Brazil .

The participating teams in the event dedicated to Mr. Freddy Perez, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Public Works, are Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico in Pool A and Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago in Pool B.

The inaugural event last year was played in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico with USA taking the title. More Spanish

WUXI, China, May 27, 2007.- Cuba recorded one of the most dramatic victories of the 2007 China International Women Volleyball tournament here on Sunday when they came back from two sets down to defeat China 3-2 while the Netherlands also was extended into five sets to beat Dominican Republic.

The match between Cuba and China ended after almost two hours with the Cuba victory by 20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-11. Rosir Calderon led Cuba with 23 points and Yumilka Ruiz had 18. Y. H. Zhang recorded 20 for China and M. Xue had 15. 

 The Netherlands and Dominican Republic tied at two all before the Dutch took the tiebreaker to win 25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 26-28, 15-10. Manon Flier was the best Dutch with 20 tallies and for Dominican Republic, Bethania de la Cruz (20), Milagros Cabral (17) and Cindy Rondon (14) finished in double-figures. More Spanish

HAVANA, Cuba, May 27, 2007.- Cuba got its second triumph in as many outings by defeating Egypt in straight sets (25-18, 25-22, 25-19)  on Saturday in the opening weekend of the FIVB World League Intercontinental Round.

Different than one day earlier, the team of coach Orlando Samuels, came out more relaxed and dominated the match from start to finish.

Cuban Michael Sanchez was the top scorer of the night with 21 points and Rolando Jurquin added 10 tallies. More Spanish

PORT OF SPAIN , Trinidad , May 27, 2007.- Ania Ruiz and Yamileska Yantin, the duo of Puerto Rico-1 was crowned as queens of the fourth and final leg of the North, Central American and Caribbean Continental Beach Volleyball Tour –Spike Down.

Ruiz-Yantin edged Cubans Ion Canet and Kirenia Bell in three sensational sets by scores of 21-18, 18-21, 18-16.

Canadians Mila Miguel and Asia Danilova won the bronze medal with a 21-17, 21-9 victory over Maria Orellana and Anna Ramirez of Guatemala. More Spanish

PORT OF SPAIN , Trinidad , May 26, 2007.- Canadians Mila Miguel and Asia Danilova needed two three-sets victories to advance to the semi finals of the North, Central American and Caribbean Continental Beach Volleyball Tour –Spike Down at Saith Park, Chaguitas.

Miguel-Danilova survived against the USA pair of Kristin Ursillo and Krystal McFarland with a 21-19, 15-21, 18-16 victory in the single elimination round and the beat Vanessa Vélez and Yarleen Santiago of Puerto Rico-2 by scores of 21-18, 12-21, 15-12 in the quarterfinals. More Spanish

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, May 26, 2007.- The local pair of  Pauline Woodroffe and Elki Phillip made a promising start to the  2007 North, Central America and the Caribbean (NORCECA) Continental  Beach Volleyball Tour-Spike Down with a win over their Barbadian rivals at the Saith Park, Chaguanas, yesterday.

Woodroffe and Phillip who competed in the first-leg of the competition in the Dominican Republic without any success, won their Group A opener against Laura Whitehall- Julia Lewis 21-16, 21-15 under blistering hot weather. However in their second match in the three-team group, Woodroffe and Phillip, went under to Ania Ruiz and Yamileska Yantin (Puerto Rico-1), 4-21, 14-21. More Spanish

WUXI, China, May 26, 2007.- Cuba and Dominican Republic came out losers in the opening day of the 2007 China  International Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

Cuba lost to in five sets (25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 15-13) to the team of Netherlands led by Staelen Chaine with 20 points and Manon Flier adding 14 tallies.

Meanwhile, Dominican Republic lost to China in straight sets by score of 25-12, 25-22, 25-20.

Joximin Jue with 12 points and Xue Ming with 10 were the too scorers for the host team and Cindy Rondon and Milagros Cabral had 8 and 7 respectively for the losing side.

The 2007 China International Women’s Volleyball Tournament is divided in two legs, with the first being held in the city of Wuxi, on May 25-27, and the second in Beilun on May 29-June1. More Spanish

LONDON, Ontario, May 26, 2007.- Canada dispatched Finland in four sets by scores of  18-25, 25-20, 28-26, 25-18 in the first of two matches at the John Labatt Centre marking its return to the FIVB World League after a six-year absence.

Paul Duerden, Fred Winters and Steve Brinkman all scored 14 points for Canada while veteran Olli Kunnari, playing in his 100th international match, led Finland with 13.

In Havana, Cuba overcame some lapses of instability and defeated Egypt 25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21 at Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum before an animated crowd.

Roberlandy Simon led all the scorers with 21 points and Oreol Camejo added 13 for Cuba . Egypt had its best scorer in Mohammed Gabal who had 12 points.  More Spanish

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, May 25, 2007.- Mushtaque Mohammed, president of the T&T Volleyball Federation and Caribbean Zone Volleyball Association says he is confident of this country’s ability to host a successful fourth and final  leg of the 2007 (North, Central America and the Caribbean) NORCECA Continental  Beach Volleyball Circuit. More Spanish

LONDON, Ontario, May 25, 2007.- The Canadian Men’s Volleyball Team is fully prepared for whatever may come in their World League opener in London, Ontario. The Canucks will square off against Finland tonight in their first of two head-to-head matches at the John Labatt Centre. Game two goes Saturday afternoon. 

While Finland may be ranked 33rd in the world, the 12th ranked Canadians will not take them lightly.  More Spanish

HAVANA, Cuba, May 25, 2007.- The Men’s National Teams of Cuba and Egypt will meet on Friday and Saturday in the opening of the Intercontinental Round of the FIVB World League. They are competing in Pool C along with Russia and Serbia. 

The African Team arrived to Havana on Thursday and three hours later had a training session at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum. Meanwhile, the host Cubans returned from Bulgaria one day earlier and had two strong practices.  

The visiting squad came in without its star players Hamdy Awad and Abdel Salah, but head coach Grzegorz Ryz said he expects “a good match on Friday” and even tough he recognized Cuba as a stronger team than his “this will be a worthy experience for my players.” More Spanish

COLORADO SPRINGS, May 23, 2007 - USA Volleyball has announced the 12-player roster for the 2007 U.S. Women's Junior National Team after a training block with the 24-player U.S. Women's Junior National Training Team held May 18-20 in Austin, Texas.

The 12 players selected for the U.S. Women's Junior National Team will represent Team USA at the FIVB U-20 World Championships held July 19-27 in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand. More Spanish

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 23, 2007.- The Women’s National Teams of Cuba and Dominican Republic will participate in the 2007 China  International Women’s Volleyball Tournament starting next Friday 25.

The event is divided in two legs, with the first being held in the city of Wuxi, on May 25-27, and the second in Beilun on May 29-June1. Besides host China, the other participating team is The Netherlands.

The event is part of the preparation of both NORCECA teams for the Sixth Pan American Cup in Mexico in June 19-30, a qualifier for the 2008 World Grand Prix, and the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro next July. More Spanish 

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, May 23, 2007 – Today Barbados’ Regional Development Centre located in the sun-drenched city of Bridgetown launched an FIVB Level I Coaches Course with over 20 local coaches and P.E. teachers as well as three international coaches seeking certification. 

The two-weeks course which is being conducted  by Nejat Sancak of Turkey and Peter Kalny of Slovenia will see Michelle Wong of England, Louis Ramirez of Hawaii and Jelena Jalcina of Latvia joining the local participants in looking to become certified FIVB Level I volleyball Coaches.

At the end of the two rigourous weeks of theory and practical training the coaches will need to complete exams. More Spanish 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 21, 2007.- Showing a great dose of resiliency the American pair of Art Barron and Mike Szymanski won a deserved men’s gold medal in the Puerto Rico Beach Volleyball Tournament after playing three consecutive matches that went to the limit on Sunday.

Barron-Szymanski defeated Abdel Otero-Juan Rivera of Puerto Rico-2 in the final match by score of 21-15, 13-21, 15-12.

The Americans made it to the gold medal match with a 22-20, 14-21, 15-12 over Marcelo Araya-Jonathan Guevara of Costa Rica . Earlier in the morning they had defeated Javier Mendez-Jorge Gonzalez of Puerto Rico-3 by score of 21-15, 16-21, 15-13. More Spanish 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 21, 2007.- Yarleen Santiago and Yamileska Yantin of Puerto Rico-1 played consistently both serving and blocking and the simple formula gave them the women’s gold medal at the Puerto Rican Beach Volleyball Tournament, the third leg of the 2007 NORCECA Circuit.

In the final match on the sands of Isla Verde, Santiago-Yantin downed Margarita Suero-Bethania Almanzar of Dominican Republic by score of 21-14, 21-15.

The victory proved to be sweet for Santiago, who earlier this week announced her retirement from the international volleyball competition to pursue a beach career.  More Spanish 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 20, 2007.- The women’s semi final round of the Puerto Rico Beach Volleyball Tournament, the third leg of the NORCECA Circuit, will have a local flavor with three local pairs as protagonists.  

Yamileska Yantin and Yarleen Santiago of Puerto Rico-1 advanced with a 22-20, 21-17 victory over Maria Orellana-Anna Ramirez of Guatemala and now will meet Vanessa Velez-Ania Ruiz who beat Lorimar Rabell-Tejaira Ruiz of Puerto Rico-4 by score of 26-24, 19-21, 15-11.

The other semi final will have Maritere Ramos-Damaris Flores of Puerto Rico-3 against Dominicans Margarita Suero-Bethania Almanzar. 

More Spanish