Cuba beat Mexico 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-14) and won Group A undefeated to advance directly to the semifinals of the Men’s U-23 Pan American Volleyball Cup at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo, Suriname.
The winners were stronger with their powerful attack (41-33), tied in blocking (9-9) and scored fewer points on serves (7-10), while committing fewer errors of their own (27-38) to get their third consecutive win, after their victories over Costa Rica and Dominican Republic in previous days.
Once again, center Thiago Suarez stood out in opposite duties to become the top scorer of the match with 24 tallies, followed again by corner player Bryan Camino, who scored 14 points.
Auxiliary attacker Carlos Pereira contributed 7, middle blockers Jakdiel Contreras and Alexis Wilson 4 and 3, in that order, and setter Yonni Iglesias 3, who completed the regular lineup with libero Dayron Gallego.
For the Aztecs, Isay Toy and Franky Hernandez led the offense, both with 15 points.
Cuban coach Jesús Cruz said “Mexico in this category always comes to fight the matches, they are fighters, just like us. In the first set their serve worked very well, especially Milatony caused us a lot of damage; afterwards we made the pertinent adjustments to control their serve. Our attack worked to the letter in the last set”.
Cuba and Guatemala, undefeated winners of the A and B brackets, respectively, will watch this Thursday from the stands the quarterfinals, from which their opponents will emerge on Friday in the penultimate date.
This tournament will grant the two remaining tickets to the Norceca confederation for the II Junior Pan American Games of Asuncion 2025. Cubans and Quisqueyanos have already secured that quota since last year in the cup held in Havana.
