United States are qualified to U19 semi finals

HAVANA, Cuba, June 26, 2016 – United Sates overpowered Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-21) to win Pool A and the second berth to the semi finals of the NORCECA Boys U19 Championship where two tickets are available to the World Championship in 2017.

The winners were superior in all the match performance items: attack (36-16), block (6-2), service (8-1), and made 25 unforced errors whereas the Caribbean made 35.

Jaylen Jasper, Samuel Lewis and Kyler Presho were the only ones who scored double- digits with 10 each, while on the losing side the captain Bayron Valdés (9) was the best one.

“We started by playing very well as the boys have been improving the learning of the playing system we are teaching them. In the third set, they were lazy and I tell them it has to be played with fire at all times”, stated Samuel Schweisky, coach of the reigning country in the tournament held in 2014.

Captain, Presho, a Californian 2.03-meter giant, looked really happily because of their progress. “There are some details left yet, but we will achieve them as the event goes on as obviously we are on the right direction.”

Vicente Paniagua, Dominican coach, admitted his rival is a much taller and experienced team. “Therefore I think my boys played well preparing themselves for the match against Mexico tomorrow in quarterfinals.”

Captain, Valdéz, coincided with his coach when stating “we did it well. They are a tough rival, but we got fun in each set, especially in the last one where we scored more points.”

While United States and Cuba will be following the event from the seats tomorrow, their respective virtual opponents for Tuesday in quarterfinals, Nicaragua-Jamaica (15:00 local time) and Mexico-Dominican Republic (17:00 h) will be face-to-face this Monday. The winners will obtain the other two place quotas for semi finals.