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Cuba with successful debut

DURANGO, Mexico, August 18, 2021. – Defending champion Cuba defeated Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-17, 29-31, 25-21, 25-19) for a successful debut in pool B at the Men’s NORCECA Continental Championship in Auditorio del Pueblo of Durango, Mexico.

Cuba’s 52-34 advantage in attacks stopped Dominican’s momentum in set two; they also led in serves 10-7 but Dominicans held a one-point (6-5) in serves and committed fewer unforced errors (37-41).

Three players with double-digits led Cuba´s scorers, opposite Jesus Herrera with 18 points on 16 kills and two aces, outside hitter Miguel Angel López with 17 points including two aces and middle blocker José Israel Masso with 14 points.

On day two Cuba (1-0) will play Guatemala (0-1) and Dominican Republic (0-1) meets United States (1-0).

Miguel Angel López, Captain of Cuba: “We are in good physical shape, it was a successful debut. We were too relaxed in the second and that’s why we began to commit unforced errors, but we stabilized our game”.

Yosvani Muñóz, Coach of Cuba: “We were too overconfident in the set we dropped; we have a little more than two years without competing and that’s the lack of communication between the players. I am convinced that as the tournament develops we will improve our game rhythm”.

Henry Tapia, Captain of Dominican Republic: “We are coming out of a difficult situation caused by the pandemic but we did a good job overall. We hope to reach our goal and we will improve moving forward”.

Dante Mañon, Coach of Dominican Republic: “Our outside hitters were really off, I made some changes to stabilize the team little by little because we have a combination of under 23 and senior players, we must find the way to get better each day”.