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After three consecutive losses against Canada, the Netherlands and Italy, the Cuban men’s volleyball team reemerged like a phoenix and defeated France this Saturday in its last competitive day of the second week of the Nations League, held at the TD Place Arena from Ottawa.
The Antilleans won five sets with scores of 25-18, 20-25, 23-25, 25-22 and 15-10, supported mainly by good work on the net, incisive service and better distribution of the attack. now with captain Miguel Ángel López occupying the opposite position.
Specifically, López was one of the main scorers of the Caribbean team with 21 points, 16 of them from effective shots, two from blocks and three with serves. The Cienfuegos native perfectly escorted assistant Marlon Yant, who once again shouldered the greatest offensive responsibilities of the team.
Volleyball Nations League: a wall from Brazil to Paris
The man from Villa Clara left with 23 cards, 19 in attack, three in blocking and one in service. The rest of the Cuban starting team also showed strengths. Javier Concepción was 75% effective with his shots (13 positive actions in 16 attempts) in the center of the court, while Osniel Mergarejo achieved 66.6% positive shots in 12 attempts.
Vital for Cuba was also the return of the incombustible Robertlandy Simón, who had not played in the previous games after feeling some physical discomfort in the first duel of the week against Canada. But the experienced center back made an effort and returned to the court to give the team a morale boost, with nine points, one of them with his serve, three in attack plus five blocks that rescued Cuba in compromised situations.
The victory gave the Caribbean team 9.55 points in the world ranking, valid to climb to tenth position. The victory was also combined with Serbia’s defeat against Argentina, also in five sets, which made the Balkans lose 1.77 points in their fight for Olympic qualification.
Cubans and Serbs are fighting for the last place heading to Paris 2024, with a slight advantage for the Antilleans (250.64 units to 243.57), although the Europeans still have to play a duel this Sunday against Canada with which they can overcome Cuba, close the gap or move away more depending on the result.
