USA claim second victory by surpassing Cuba

Mexicali, Mexico, October 6, 2013 - The United States registered their second victory at Women's U23 World Championship after beating Cuba 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-21).

American captain Gina Mancuso tallied 15 points, while Ariel Turner scored 13 and Monique Mead finished with 11.

The Cubans had the youngest player of the tournament as their best weapon: Melissa Vargas, who will be 15 years old by the middle of this month (She was born in 1999), scored 14 points.

Jennifer Alvarez finished with only 9 tallies for the Caribbean team that is now 0-2 after two very tough matches. USA (2-0) had 11 block kills and Cuba 9. However, serving was against a key factor for Karch Kiraly’s squad after 5 team aces (2 by Ariel Turner) against none by Cuba.

The Americans will look for their third victory ant the qualification to semifinal on Monday when they face Brazil and Cuba will match China.

Mexicali, Mexico, October 6 2013 - Every match is a different challenge and also marks a commitment to be better than yesterday. That is the philosophy that American coach Karch Kiraly shares with his team. But also there is a good tactical plan like the one USA executed against Cuba.

Karch Kiraly, coach of USA: We stayed focus in just to get better everyday. It started at the service line and went out with a good attack mentality. It is big pleasure and a challenging work to see our athletes compete. Our main expectation is to improve every day, to a better team and a better coach.

Gina Mancuso, captain of USA: USA goal is to be better each day. We accomplished it again. It was not easy, but our team did a great job today.

Daymara Lescay, captain of Cuba: I think this match could be better for us. Unfortunately we could not enter to the court as a solid team and could not execute our plan as expected.

Juan Carlos Gala, coach of Cuba: Congratulations to USA. They really surpassed us with their service. It was very tactical and it really stopped our attack as well as their blocking game. That service strategy defined the match since the first set.