Cuba defeat Colombia to advance to semis at CACG

CORDOBA, Mexico, November 28, 2014 - Cuba clinched their ticket to the semifinals at Men’s competition of the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games after beating Colombia 3-0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-22).

Osmany Uriarte Mestre closed with 14 puntos and Felix Chapman with 10 for Cuba. On the Colombian side Andrés Pizá and Humberto Machacón closed with 13 points apiece. Cuba Dominated in blocking 7-3 and 4-2 in services. The Caribbean team surrendered 20 points, while Colombia gave up 30.

“It was very different than the match against Puerto Rico. We kept concentration from the beginning to the end. We made less mistakes and Colombia stood very well on the court, they never gave up. Our goal was to qualify among top four and we expect to have a better match tomorrow and also expect to go for a medal,” said Rolando Cepeda, captain of Cuba.

“It was a great match. People really enjoyed it a lot, that was important. Our country has experienced such a great chance and a special evolution in volleyball. We are not glad about this result, put we feel proud to express this growing feeling,” said Andres Piza, who was one of the top scorers of Colombia.

“Afterall I want to congratulate Cuba for being such a great winner and doing everything possible to win. We could not make it, but I’m satisfied with the development and performance of my team,” stated Daniel Moine, coach of Colombia.

“Colombia went out to play a good match. We improved a little bit in comparison with yesterday’s match. We are working with a very young team and played with our U21 unit. They closed the game. There are young talented boys that require to get more experience and as long as we can get it we will be increasing our level. Today we are in the Group II of the World League and we expect to get back to Group I,” stated Rodolfo Sanchez, coach of Cuba.