Cuban men lose against Russia in volleyball in Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Aug 8 (acn) Cuban men´s volleyball team lost in its debut to Russia in Group B of the 31st Olympic Games, based in this city until August 21st.

The young Antillean squad, which sometimes showed the talent of its inexperienced players, lost to the champion of the previous edition, London 2012, 1-3 (17-25, 19-25, 25-22 and 18-25) in 96 minutes.
The scoring leader of the match was Cuban Osniel Rendon, with 20 points (17 spikes, 2 blockings and one ace), followed by his namesake Melgarejo (18-14-3-1).
Meanwhile, the renowned Maxim Mikhaylov (16-13-3-0), Egor Kliuka (10-8-0-2) and Sergey Tetyukhin (10-7-1-2) highlighted for the European side.
According to the match statistics, Cubans totaled higher number of spikes than their rivals (51- 46); identical amount of aces (6); but Russians were better in blocks (6-10), and essentially in unforced errors (16-35), which greatly influenced on the final result.
Cuba´s second game will be tomorrow against Egypt in a group which it also includes Poland, Argentina and Iran.