Havana, September 11 (JIT) The Cuban team defeated the Dominican Republic in three sets and won the bronze medal at the 2023 Norceca Men’s Championship, held in Virginia, United States.

Although the main goal was the fight for the title, which was fought between the hosts and the Canadians, the Cubans scored points for the world ranking and experienced a week of preparation for the pre-Olympic tournament in Brazil at the end of the month.

The Cuban team dominated with scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-16 in 56 minutes of play. The starters opened the match and from the second set on, almost all the substitutes entered the court.

The Dominican Republic, which had fulfilled its mission of beating Mexico and Puerto Rico and entering the discussion for the medals, could not do more against the Cubans, who openly dominated in attack (44-28), in blocking (11-0) and in service (6-1). It was only on their own errors that they were almost tied (16-14).

Cornerer Miguel Ángel López was the top scorer and the only one to double his team’s numbers, with 16 points. Center Javier Concepción contributed nine, blocker Jesús Herrera seven, and setter Christian Thondike and backup forward Marlon Yant six.

For the Quisqueyans, the only one to double the figures was corner attacker Héctor Alexis Cruz, with 10 points.

“With this match we achieved the goal of being medalists. We would have liked to discuss the final to score more points in the world rankings and maintain our current 12th place,” coach Jesús Cruz told JIT.

“Maybe at other times there were closer matches against the Dominican Republic, but our boys showed the necessary impetus in this type of competition. “We made the difference that the bronze medal match made,” he added.

“There wasn’t the rivalry we would have liked. However, we played our game with the category and performance we needed,” he said.

Cruz, who made his debut in this tournament as technical director of the national team, spoke of the tournament serving as preparation for the pre-Olympic competition in Brazil.

“Six matches have been played, perhaps not all with the same intensity. Only the United States and Canada have presented the level we are going to face in Brazil. There we will have seven challenges against top rivals,” he said.

The Cuban actors will return to Havana for approximately 15 days to complete their preparation. They will include a video analysis of this tournament, in particular to observe the imperfections against the United States and Canada.

“That’s where our mistakes and issues on the lines were revealed. We will analyze this and try to correct what we can to enter the pre-Olympics with the impulse and the desire to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

United States Champion:

The host team fulfilled pre-competition predictions by defeating the Canadians with straight sets of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-22.

The locals were superior in attack (44-31) and in blocking (5-3), while in service their rivals were only one point apart (4-3) and committed more direct errors (23-18).

In another final day result, Puerto Rico beat Suriname 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-19, 25-14) to secure sixth place. Fifth place goes to Mexico, who beat the Puerto Ricans 3-1 a day earlier.

López on the honor roll:

The Cuban Miguel Ángel López was included in the honor roll as the most outstanding in the service.

The select group also included Americans Micah Christenson (most valuable player) and Erik Shoji (receiving); the Mexican Hiram Bravo (defense and libero) and Lawrence Vidal, from Puerto Rico (top scorer and first in attack).

The four Canadians included were Luke Herr (pass), Arthur Szwarc (opposite), Stephen Maar (second in attack) and Danny Demyanenko (second in block), as well as Puerto Rican Elias Rodríguez (best central defender).