Havana, August 31 (ACN) The Cuban women’s volleyball team will seek their first victory today, against Costa Rica, on the last day of the group stage of the North American Continental Cup, in Central America and the Caribbean (Norceca). , Canada.

With a stage until next Sunday at the Amphithéâtre Desjardins-Université Laval du PEPS, the Cubans will meet the Costa Ricans this Thursday in section B, after losing 0-3 against 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.

Regarding the game against the Americans, the coach of the biggest of the Antilles Osmani García 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 in the development technical-tactical. A first set worked with a lot of insecurity, they were under a lot of pressure”.

García pointed out “Later, in the dynamics of the game, small progress was made, not what was desired, but the state of mind of the players and they were gaining confidence”.

He added: “Some locks worked, which was what we had envisioned. The counterattacks were variable. We are not happy, we are not satisfied, but the team continues to grow little by little”.

United States coach Karch Kiraly said: “Every point in every game is important here, but our team is doing a good job of controlling the things we’ve been working on in terms of our first-ball touch and our pressure. in the service. …”

Karaly added: “We are looking forward to playing against the Dominican Republic, we have a lot of respect for them; It’s a great team, one of the great teams in our region. We’ve played against them a lot over the past 10 years and more… it’s wonderful to take on the challenge they present.”

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

On Wednesday, the Dominican Republic also won, beating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-13, 25-11 and 25-10), and Canada, unbeaten, who beat 3-0 (25-18, 25 -13 and 25-10). 23) in Puerto Rico.

As announced by the organizers, the quarter-final stage is scheduled for September 1, with the crossing of second and third places in each segment.

A day later, the fifth stage will be defined and will take place the semi-final, stage to which the winners of each key will access, and in the third, the bronze and gold medals will be discussed, in that order.

The seven teams that participate in the Canadian competition do so with their main characters, since it distributes points for the Norceca ranking, a list for which Cuba has already secured its ticket to the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.

It was also by coincidence that the United States and Canada announced that they would not be participating in the Chilean multi-sport event.