Cuba loses to Argentina at VLN

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 30 (ACN) The Cuban men's team lost 2-3 to Argentina in the closing match of Group Six of the second week of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), held in Belgrade.

According to the International Federation's website www.fivb.com, Jesus Cruz's team won the first set, 25-23, fell in the second and third, 23-25 ​​and 21-25, won the fourth, 25-21, but fell 11-15 in the fifth and final.

Official team statistics show that the South Americans, were now better on offense, 62 points to 59, blocking (9-8), and own errors (31-33), while Cubans only outperformed them on serve (7-5). Individually, the top scorer of the match was Argentine German Alfredo Gomez, who accumulated 22 points, all on offense, followed by his teammate Luciano Palonsky (18/17-1-0) and Cuban captain Miguel Angel Lopez (18/18-0-0).

Cuba also excelled at Jose Masso (17/13-3-1), Javier Concepcion (15/10-1-4), and Marlon Yant (12/10-1-1), while Argentina also excelled at Luciano Vicentin (13/11-1-1) and captain Agustin Loser Bruno (12/6-5-1), completing the eight players with double-digit points.

With these results, Cuba currently sits in seventh place with a record of four wins and three losses, taking into account their performance in the first week (1-3).

They have 13 points, the same as Argentina, but in sixth place with five wins and three losses. According to the schedule, in the difficult third week, held in Gdansk, Cuba will face Bulgaria (July 16), Poland (July 17), and France (July 18).

Although the Cuban team is aiming to surpass its performance in the previous edition, when it finished in ninth place, its main objective for the year is the World Cup in the Philippines, scheduled for next September.