Cuba defeated Puerto Rico in a U18 Girls' Pan American Cup Pool B match on Tuesday
Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2015 - Cuba took a big step towards qualification for the FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship by defeating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-18, 25-12, 18-25, 25-18) in a Girls’ Pan American Volleyball Cup Pool B match on Tuesday.
The winner of four-team Pool B will claim the last vacancy for NORCECA and South America at the Girls' U18 World Championship in Lima, Peru next August.
Cheered on by their fans at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum, the Cubans dominated the first two sets, but were not able to maintain their rhythm in the third set, when they dropped points in reception. They recovered in time to get their first win, however.
Diaris Perez led the winning offense with 13 points, followed by Heidy Casanova and Kitania Medina with 11 points apiece and Gretell Moreno with 10. Puerto Rico’s Dariana Hollingsworth had a match-high 14 points as the only player with double digits for the losers.
In the other match in Pool B, Chile brushed aside Costa Rica 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-6) in an hour and three minutes. Josefa Marti, Karen Morales, Catalina Agurto and Magdalena Ramirez each contributed eight points to the victory. Costa Rican Allison Font finished with seven points for the losers.
In Pool A, reigning NORCECA champions the Dominican Republic overpowered Mexico 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16). Over the 69 minutes of the match between two of the four teams already qualified for the World Championship in Pool A, the Dominicans dominated their rivals in spikes (34-30), blocks (7-4), and services (4-0).
Massiel Matos led the Dominican side with 16 points, followed by Natalia Martínez with 10. Mexico’s best scorer was Kathya Garcia with nine points.
Also in Pool A, Peru scored a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24) victory over Argentina in a match between two South American teams.
Leslie Leyva and Katherine Regalado topped the scoring with 12 and 10 points respectively. The match lasted an hour and 18 minutes. Maria Corbalan and Anahi Tosi each had 10 points for the defeated side.