Cuba with silver and two players among the best of U17 men's volleyball tournament

HAVANA, Cuba, November 24 (ACN) Cuban men's volleyball team won the silver medal and had two players among the top performers at the North American, Central American and Caribbean U17 Volleyball Championship (NORCECA), held at the Alexis Argüello Sports Complex in Managua, Nicaragua.

According to www.norceca.net, Cubans, bronze medalists at the first edition in Veracruz 2023, finished with the silver medal on Sunday.

Reinaldo Marquez was the best server at the Nicaraguan pre-World Championship, and Victor Contreras was the second-best attacker. Marquez, with 13 points (10 attacks, one block, and two serves), and Contreras (19/16-0-3) were Cuba's top scorers in the match against Puerto Rico, along with Dalian La O (12/11-1-0).
The undefeated and favored Puerto Ricans retained their title, defeating Lian Sem Estrada's team 1-3 (23-25, 22-25, 25-18, 22-25).

The top scorer of the match was Puerto Rican Elvis Gonzalez (20 points, 19 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 penalty), closely followed by Contreras, Marquez, and La O, in that order.

The team statistics show that the Puerto Ricans were superior in attack (49 points to 43) and blocking (8-5), while Cubans dominated in serving (10-2) and were tied in errors (34-34).

With this result, Estrada's team improved upon their bronze medal from two years ago, while the Puerto Ricans repeated their title and secured the only direct berth available for the World Championship in Doha. Qatar, in 2026.

Now Cuba will have to wait for the possibility of a spot through the International Federation, but via NORCECA.

The United States won the bronze medal, defeating Mexico, the silver medalist in the previous edition, 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 21-25, 18-16). Costa Rica and Nicaragua finished in fifth and seventh place, respectively, defeating Barbados and the Dominican Republic 3-2.