Havana, July 12 (RHC)-- Cuba will be looking for its second success in the men's volleyball Pan American Final Six Cup today, when it faces the United States. The tournament will be held at the Amado Nervo Auditorium in the Mexican city of Tepic, Nayarit, until next Sunday.
After defeating the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-15, 25-15 and 25-22) in their debut, this Tuesday they will face the Americans, in a second day that will also have matches between the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, at first time, and Mexicans and Canadians, at the end.
According to the site www.norceca.net, in the challenge between the disciples of Nicolás Vives and those of the Dominican Alexander Gutiérrez, the top scorer was the Cuban Marlon Yant, who accumulated 12 points, distributed in nine in the attack and three in the service.
In addition to Yant, Miguel Angel Lopez (10/8-2-0) and Roamy Alonso (8-7-1-0) were outstanding for Cuba, while for the Dominican Republic the best were Wilfredo Hernandez (8/7-1) and Henry Tapia (8/8-0-0).
The statistics of the match reflected the dominance of Vives' pupils, with 39-21 in attack, (8-4) in blocking and (5-3) in service, while Gutierrez's team was better, but by the minimum, in the errors committed that contributed points to the rivals (19-20).
In the other results on Monday, the Canadians defeated the Americans 3-0 (25-17, 25-21 and 25-21) and the Puerto Ricans, 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 and 15-13) over the defending champions, the Mexicans.
The round-robin preliminaries determine the four teams that advance to Saturday's semifinals, with the medal match on Sunday.
The teams that finish fifth and sixth will face each other to define the last places before the semifinals that will have first versus fourth and second versus third.
The competition will award points towards qualification for the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, both in 2023.
Before the start of the cup, Vives expressed that the "intentions are to give our best, prepare well for the FIVB Challenger World Cup, which is the most important immediate event we have (at the end of this month), we are gearing up the machinery".
"We are also preparing for the Pan American Cup and the World Championship. Cuba's main goal is always to win the competition," he added.
