The islanders swept aside Costa Rica. Their next opponents will be the United States, one of the favourites to win the title.
The Cuban national team achieved its first victory in the XXI Pan American Women’s Volleyball Cup 2024 on Monday, by dominating Costa Rica in straight sets in the match corresponding to group B in the city of Irapuato, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
The sets ended 25-18, 25-19 and 25-18 thanks to the Antillean superiority in attack (37-22), blocking (10-4) and service (6-10). However, they conceded 28 points due to unforced errors to the Central Americans, who made 22 errors.
Leading the Cuban offence were middle blocker Lianet Garcia and outside hitter Yalain de la Peña, the only two players in double digits. Both had 10 points from nine attacks and a «wall».
However, the top scorer of the match was Tica Melina Abarca, who scored 11 points from nine spikes and two blocks.
For the Caribbean side, opposite Alejandra Gomez contributed nine points, while middle blockers Jessica Aguilera and Dayana Martinez scored six and four points, respectively.
Middle blocker Laura Suarez, captain of Cuba, told the event’s website that «we are doing quite well, yesterday was a game that hurts, a close game against Puerto Rico, but we didn’t get the victory. Today we came out a little more relaxed and we knew we had to win without underestimating our opponents. We regained our confidence and tomorrow we will go out to give our best».
Their coach Leivis Garcia said that «we have to see the evolution of Costa Rica, they are more organised than the team that was in the Final Six, there is a good job. That helps us to grow more. We took the opportunity to move the players and create a tactical plan for the upcoming games. At the individual level, each athlete had her task and some of them excelled in what they were given».
Cuba has a 1-1 balance, due to the setback they suffered this Sunday against the Puerto Ricans in five sets (25-22, 15-25, 22-25, 28-26, 15-8), while the Costa Ricans succumbed 0-3 in their debut against the Chileans.
On Tuesday, the Costa Ricans will face the United States, one of the favourites to win the title. The other matches in the B bracket will be between Chile-Costa Rica and Puerto Rico-Argentina.
In another of Monday’s matches, Colombia maintained their unbeaten record in Pool A in the city of Leon, beating Suriname 3-0 (25-4, 25-12, 25-9).
