Cuba falls to Costa Rica and finishes 6th at U17 women's volleyball, Mexico in first place

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 27 (ACN) Cuba lost 2-3 to Costa Rica on Sunday and finished sixth at the 1st North, Central America and Caribbean Continental Championship (Norceca) U17 women's volleyball tournament, held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the Cubans won the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-21, but the Costa Ricans reacted in the following ones, 25-19, 25-20 and 15-11.

The official statistics reflect better results of Cubans in attack, 51 points to 46, and blocking (11-4), but their rivals surpassed them in service (8-7), which shows that their own errors were decisive in the final results.

The individual standout was once again Cuba's Salet Yuniksian Castillo Valdes, top scorer of the match with 19 points, 16 in attack, one in blocking and two in service, followed by Costa Rica's Michelle Arias Bonilla (15/14-0-1).

Lizt Marien Lopez (17/13-4-0) and Jessica de la Caridad Brito (14/12-2-6) also stood out for the Caribbean nation, a duo that completed the list of seven players with double digits -four of them from Costa Rica-.

In the last game of the tournament, Mexico won the competition with a 3-2 victory over previously undefeated Puerto Rico, while the bronze medal went to Canada, a team that defeated the Dominican Republic 3-1.

With these results, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada won the three places awarded by the tournament for the 1st World Championship of the category in 2024.