Cuba defeats Puerto Rico at Final Six of the women's volleyball tournament

 HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 19 (ACN) The Cuban women's volleyball team defeated Puerto Rico 3-1 on Thursday, securing their first victory in the ongoing NORCECA Final Six tournament, held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the pupils coached by the new head coach of the Cuban team, Brazilian Lizomar De Moura, lost the first set 18-25, but bounced back in the second, third, and fourth sets, winning 25-21, 25-16, and 25-22.

The official team statistics show that the Cubans had better results in attack, with 58 points to 40, tied with Puerto Rico in service (6-6), and scored three more points on opponent errors (25-22), while the Puerto Ricans were superior in blocking (13-7).

For the winners, Yalain de la Caridad Peña stood out as the top scorer of the match with 24 points, 21 on attack and three on serve, supported by Decelise Annalee Champion (14/10-2-2), Dayana Martinez (12/7-3-2), Whitney James (12/11-1-0), and Claudia Tarin (12/11-1-0).

For Puerto Rico, Alba Hernandez (11/5-4-2) was the best performer, one of only two players to reach double digits in points.

Cubans will face Canada today in the final match of the group stage of the tournament. The other matches on Friday are United States vs. Puerto Rico and Mexico vs. Dominican Republic.

Currently, the United States leads the standings with four wins and no losses, followed by Mexico (3-1), Puerto Rico (2-2), Dominican Republic (2-2), Cuba (1-3), and Canada (0-3).

According to the organizers, the semifinals will take place on Saturday, with the matches pitting second-place against third-place and first-place against fourth-place teams.

On Sunday, the matches for fifth place, the bronze medal, and the gold medal will be played, in that order.

The tournament awards points towards qualification for the 2026 NORCECA Continental Championship, which is the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, as well as world ranking points for teams that do not participate in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL).