Puerto Rico beat Cuba and will play for the championship at NORCECA
Women’s Final Four
PONCE, Puerto Rico, June 8th, 2024.-
Puerto Rico beat Cuba in straight sets and will play Mexico for the
championship of NORCECA Women’s Final Four at the Salvador Dijols
Coliseum in Ponce, Puerto Rico with score 25-16, 25-22, 25-19.
Cuba started leading the first set 7-4, forcing a time out from Coach
Juan Carlos Núñez from Puerto Rico. The locals bounced back and took the
first set 25-16. The second set was very tight, but Puerto Rico adjusted
at the end of the set for a 25-22 win. Putting pressure on the serve,
Puerto Rico controlled the third set and won 25-19.
Puerto Rico led in attacks 40-26, blocks 11-9 and serves 8-2, but
committed more errors than Cuba, 20-16.
The top scorers of the match for Puerto Rico were middle blocker Diana
Reyes with 15 pts (8 attacks, 6 blocks and an ace) and opposite Grace
López with 12 points (9 attacks, 2 blocks and an ace). For Cuba the top
scorer was opposite Greisy Fine with 11 points (10 attacks and 1 block).
Puerto Rico will play Mexico for the first place of NORCECA Women’s
Final Four and Cuba will face Costa Rica for the third place.
Top scorer Puerto Rico – Diana Reyes:
We knew that this was a team that was going to show us more presence in
the game because they are tall players who attack very hard, but we
studied them well to play with strategy and achieve victory. The
pressure on serve worked for us, as it affected their reception, and
they couldn't use their middle blockers as much. Tomorrow ‘s match
against Mexico will be more demanding but, we will have our analysis and
directions from our coach. We will come focused on seeking victory.
Top scorer Cuba – Greisy Fine:
we knew it was a difficult match since Puerto Rico is a very good team.
We had to play hard and give our all despite having the fans against us.
Things didn't go the way we wanted, but I can say that we gave
everything. We must improve some things since we did not have much time
to train together prior this tournament but, for our match against Costa
Rica we will come with all we got and very focused. |