U-21 volleyball

Havana, June 8 (ACN) -- The host men's team of Cuba defeated the United States 3-2 at the end of the group phase of the North, Central America and Caribbean (Norceca) U21 Pan American Volleyball Cup, and advanced directly to the semifinals of the event, held at the coliseum of the Sports City of this capital.

In a duel of unbeaten teams in section B, the Cubans defeated the defending U.S. champions, for many the favorites of the match and even of the event, but they will have to settle for a quarterfinal berth on Thursday.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the disciples of Jesús Cruz lost the first set, 22-25, won the second and third, 25-22 and 25-22, fell in the fourth, 21-25 and clinched the victory in the fifth and last, 15-11, after two hours and three minutes of action on the court.

The official statistics of the challenge reflected better results for the Cubans in attack, 54 points to 49, and their own errors that contributed points to their rivals (34-38), while in service they were even (6-6) and the Americans took advantage in blocking (16-10).

Alejandro Miguel Gonzalez was the top scorer of the match with 27 points, 23 in attack, two in blocking and two in service, followed closely by Trenton Moser (26/23-2-1).

Bryan Camino (14/11-3-0) and Jose Ramon Gomez (14/13-0-1) also stood out for Cuba, while for the United States, Owen Rose (11/8-3-0) and Alexander Rottman (11/6-5-0) also stood out.

With these results, Cuba is now waiting for its opponent in the semifinal, scheduled to take place this Friday, with the crossing of the second and third places of the groups.

In the other challenge of the B bracket, Nicaragua beat Guatemala 3-0 (25-23, 26-24 and 25-15), in the A bracket the winners were Puerto Rico and Canada (undefeated and bronze in 2022) by beating Haiti 3-0 (25-23, 25-12 and 25-15) and Dominican Republic (25-17, 25-14 and 25-22), respectively.

The Cruz boys finished first in Group B, followed by the Americans (2-1), Nicaraguans (1-2) and the Guatemalans (0-3), while in Group A, the top team was the Canadians (3-0), escorted by the Puerto Ricans (2-1), Dominicans (1-2) and Haitians (0-3).