The men’s team volleyball U-17 of Cuba achieved an important result by qualifying for the final of the Norceca Continental Championship of the category, which culminates today in Nicaragua.
This Saturday’s victory against the United States also had a special flavor because it represented revenge for the defeat suffered against the Americans in the group stage.
In that instance the Cubans had fallen in four sets against the American team, but yesterday they also hit back in four sets and sets of 25-22, 27-25, 12-25 and 25-20. With this, they took away the undefeated record that their rivals had until that moment.
A key element for the team led by Liam Sem Estrada was to make the most of the United States’ mistakes. The 34 failures of the northerners – compared to only 21 of those on the island – were ultimately decisive, since in the rest of the sections the defeats had better figures, according to the digital site Hit.
“When we lost against the United States in the group, we promised ourselves that the second leg would be different,” captain Reinaldo Márquez told the media, for whom the key to victory was that “we went out to do the things that corresponded to each of us and we avoided mistakes.”
Against Puerto Rico for gold
The Americans were better in attack 46-41, blocking 13-8 and serving 10-6, but this was not enough to defeat the inspired Antilleans, who this Sunday will seek the title against Puerto Rico.
Víctor Contreras led the Cuban offense with 20 points, followed by captain Márquez (13). In the United States the leading voice was Franklin Vincent (16) and Jackson Real (15).
In the other semifinal, Puerto Rico won a very hard-fought match against Mexico to secure at least the silver medal. Puerto Ricans and Mexicans battled for five sets in a match finally decided in favor of the former with a score of 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 17-25 and 15-12.
With their performance, the Cubans already improved the result of the previous edition, in 2023, when they reached bronze. In addition, according to some sources, they have already secured a ticket to the category’s World Cup in Qatar, which will be held next year.
At first it was reported that only the winner of the event secured a place in the World Cup event, although later the International Federation would grant more places to the region of North, Central America and the Caribbean (Norceca).
If so, and even if Cuba lost to Puerto Rico in the final, that result should be enough to obtain one of the tickets to the world championship.
