Women's volleyball

Havana, Aug 19 (ACN) The Cuban women's team lost 2-3 to Puerto Rico in the beginning of the XXI North, Central America and Caribbean Pan American Cup (Norceca), which will be held until the 25th in Leon and Irapuato, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, and today will face Costa Rica.

In Irapuato, host of group B, the Cubans lost this Sunday in the first set, 22-25, won the second and third, 25-15 and 25-22, but were overcome in the fourth and fifth, 26-28 and 15-8, after one hour and 59 minutes of action on the court, according to the site www.norceca.net.

The official statistics of the match highlighted that the Puerto Ricans were better in attack, 55 points to 51, blocking (16-15) and service (8-4), but gave up 10 more points than Leivis Garcia's disciples (36-26).

Individually, Puerto Rico's Solimar Cestero was the top scorer of the match with 19 points, 14 in attack, three in blocking and two in service, followed by Cuba's Yalian Regla de la Caridad Peña (18/16-2-0).

Also outstanding with double digits were Puerto Rico's Neira Ortiz (17/10-6-1) and Stephanie Rivera (17/15-1-1), and Garcia's pupils, Dayana Martinez (16/15-1-0) and Desirett Madan (11/7-1-3).

In another of the three matches this Sunday in Irapuato, Argentina defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-16, 25-14 and 25-22), while in Leon, host of the A bracket, Peru defeated Dominican Republic 3-1 (27-25, 25-14, 15-25 and 25-15), and Colombia defeated Canada 3-0 (27-25, 25-21 and 25-18).

In addition to the Cuba-Costa Rica match in the B bracket, Argentina will face Chile and the United States will face Puerto Rico, while in the A bracket the challenges are Colombia-Suriname, Peru-Canada and Mexico-Dominican Republic.