Cuba loses to the Netherlands at Volleyball Nations League

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 7 (ACN) The Cuban men's team lost on Thursday 1-3 to the Netherlands in the continuation of group four of the second week of the men's Volleyball Nations League (VNL), based in Ottawa, a tournament that awards points for the world ranking (WR) for the Olympic ( OR) of Paris 2024.

According to the International Federation website www.fivb.com, the disciples of Jesus Cruz fell in the first set, 24-26, reacted in the second, 25-21, but were overcome in the third and fourth, 20-25 and 22-25, a setback that affects the score they currently have in the qualification zone for the Parisian multisport event.
With this failure, Cuba lost 10 points in the Olympic ranking and dropped behind Serbia, its closest rival in the fight for the Olympic quota.

The official collective statistics showed the best results of the Netherlands team in attack, with 54 goals to 50, blocking (12-9) and service (9-1), while Cruz's pupils only surpassed them in their own errors that gave points to the rivals (20-30).

Individually they also excelled with captain Minir Abdel-Aziz, top scorer of the match with 38 points, 30 in attack, three in blocking and five in service, supported by Marten Van Garden (15/13-1-1) and Michael Parkenson (10/7-3-0).

For Cuba, who were once again without middle blocker Roberlandy Simon due to back problems, Marlon Yant (16/15-1-0) and Michael Sanchez (15/15-0-0) stood out with double digits.

The next matches for the Caribbeans in the second week are Italy, 2022 world champion, on Friday, and France, Tokyo 2020 Olympic titleholder, on Saturday.

The third week for Cuba will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where they will face the local team, Bulgaria, Serbia and Poland.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, France, as host, Germany and Brazil, one-two in the pre-Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Japan and the United States in a similar tournament held in Japan, and Poland and Canada, in a tournament held in China, have already secured their places.