Havana, August 31 (ACN) -- The Cuban women's volleyball team will look for its first victory today when it faces Costa Rica in the closing day of the group stage of the North, Central America and Caribbean (Norceca) Continental Cup in Quebec, Canada.

The Cubans will play this Thursday in section B against the Costa Ricans in PEPS' Amphithéatre Desjardins-Université Laval, after losing 0-3 to two of the favorite teams, the Dominican Republic (14-25, 17-25 and 16-25), and the United States (8-25, 17-25 and 14-25), in that order.

About the match against the Americans, the coach of the largest of the Antilles Osmani Garcia explained "We knew that we would face the Olympic champion, one of the best teams in the world and our athletes brought an individual commitment of technical-tactical development. We worked on the first set with a lot of insecurity, they came in under a lot of pressure".

Garcia pointed out "Afterwards, in the game dynamics we advanced a little, not as desired, but the players' mood improved and they gained confidence".

He added "Some blocking worked, which was what we had conceived. The counterattacks were variable. We are not happy, we are not satisfied, but the team continues to grow little by little".

Karch Kiraly, USA coach, noted "Every point of every match is important here, but our team is doing a good job controlling the things we've been working on as far as our first ball touch and our pressure on the serve..."

Karaly added "We are looking forward to playing Dominican Republic, we have a lot of respect for them; they are a great team, one of the great teams in our zone. We have played them a lot in the last 10 years and more...it is wonderful to face the challenge they present."

According to the website www.norceca.net, the program of this third day is completed with the Mexico-Puerto Rico matches, in the A key, and the Americans and Dominicans (B), in a duel of undefeated teams.

On Wednesday, the Dominican Republic also won, defeating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-13, 25-11 and 25-10), and the undefeated Canada, defeating Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-18, 25-13 and 25-23).

As announced by the organizers, the quarterfinal stage is scheduled for September 1, with the second and third places of each segment.

One day later, the fifth step will be defined and the semifinals will take place, a stage to which the winners of each bracket will advance, and on the third, the bronze and gold medals will be discussed, in that order.

The seven teams participating in the Canadian tournament will do so with their main players, as it will award points for the Norceca ranking, a list for which Cuba has already secured its ticket to the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile 2023.

It also coincided that the United States and Canada announced that they will not participate in the Chilean multi-sport event.