Cuba falls to the United States in continental under 21 volleyball (m)

Cuba lost 0-3 to the United States in the semifinal of the Men’s Continental Championship of North, Central America and the Caribbean (Norceca) under 21 Volleyball, based in Nogales, Mexico, where today they will discuss the bronze medal against Puerto Rico.

The Cubans could not this Saturday against the undefeated Americans, who beat them in straight sets, a result that prevented them from defending their status as defending champions and owners of six titles in this type of competition, a qualifier for the 2025 world championship.

According to the site www.norceca.net, the disciples of technical director Lian Sem Estrada fell with partial scores of 20-25, 21-25 and 16-25, after one hour and 12 minutes of action on the court, with the greatest superiority of the winners in attack and blocking.

Kelly Bryan Oviedo, the match’s top scorer with 15 points, 13 in attack and two in blocking, stood out for Estrada’s pupils, supported by his teammate, Daniel Guillermo Martínez (10/7-2-1).

Cole Hartke (13/11-2-0) and Sterling Foley (11/9-1-1) stood out for the United States, who completed the quartet of players with double figures.

The official collective statistics of the match reflected that the Americans were better in all elements of the match, mainly in the attack, 40 points to 25, the blocking (15-5) and the serve (5-1), while the pupils of Estrada delivered six fewer goals due to their own errors (15-26).

In the other semifinal challenge, the victory belonged to the also undefeated Canada, a team that beat Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-14 and 25-19), a performance that guaranteed them to fight for the crown of the tournament.

Suriname and Mexico won their matches at the beginning of the fight for places five to eight, by leading Guatemala 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-22 and 25-23), and 3-0 Nicaragua, (25-17, 25-16 and 25-18), respectively.

With these results, the Surinamese and Mexicans will discuss today the fifth step, while the Guatemalans and Nicaraguans will do so for the seventh seat.

The historical medal table for the under 21 event is led by Cuba, with six gold medals and one silver, followed by the United States (3-2-5), Canada (2-4-3), Puerto Rico (0-2-2 ), Dominican Republic (0-1-0) and Mexico (0-0-1), respectively.