Puerto Rico wins showdown for bronze, world junior berth

GATINEAU, Canada, August 21, 2010 - Puerto Rico defeated Cuba 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22 for the bronze medal on Saturday at the NORCECA junior men’s volleyball championships.  With the victory, Puerto Rico also gained the third and last available berth for next year’s world junior championships at this tournament.

Jorge Antonio Lopez led Puerto Rico in scoring with 19 points, Ricardo Archilla added 15 and Christian Rivera 15.  Lazaro Fundora notched 18 points for the Cubans, Jorge Gonzalez 16 and Zamy Gomez 14.

“We know it’s not the gold medal but it feels awesome,” said Puerto Rico’s Ramon Burgos.  “One of our big goals was to get a spot for the world junior championships and we did it.  It’s a feeling I can’t explain.  We worked so hard for this. It’s great to see our program making so much progress at the international level.”

The Cubans struggled in this tournament.  Still it is hard to believe the three-time defending NORCECA champions won’t be at the 2011 world juniors.  In 2009, they took the silver medal at the world juniors.

“We were hoping we were going to play better today,” said Cuba’s coach Roberto Garcia.  “But Puerto Rico played very well. We didn’t do our job, there is no excuse.”