Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Jun 14th. - Cuba succumbed in closed duel against Ukraine in a match extended to tie break during the third date of pool 2 of the League of Volleyball Nations, which is played at the Macarazinho stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
The definition left partials of 25-20, 20-25, 25-20, 17-25 and 15-12, with the top Europeans in attack by only one point (51-50) and with a greater difference in block (17-11). Ours led on serve (8-5) and made fewer unforced errors (29-35).
However, the Ukrainians had four men with double digits, who were only surpassed by the Caribbean corner player Marlon Yant, who maintained his performance and push, and for the second day he was the top scorer of the challenge with 23 points (19 attacks-1 block-3 aces).
He was followed by central Javier Concepción, with just 11 so many (6-4-1), and José Massó taxed nine (7-1-1) as a substitute for opposite opener Yondar Bisset. Assistant Miguel Ángel Lopez, well below his performance yesterday, could not pass seven attacks before being relieved by Osniel Mergarejo (4/3-0-1).
The pitch Julio Gómez also left on the court, who scored the same as the headline Christian Thondike (2/0-1-1), and the free Brayan Camino, while Yonder García recovered from another brave fall on the grader in defense of a ball.
The rival team had well distributed the offensive, led by Tupchii (18/15-3-0), Yanchuk (17/13-1-3), Kovalov (17/12-4-1) and Semeniuk (12/6-5-1), one of the elements that made the difference of the students of the Argentine sexagenary Raúl Lozano.
It was the second setback of Jesus Cruz's pupils, who gave up 1-3 in the debut against Slovenia (25-22, 21-25, 25-18 and 25-15), a result to which they responded with sensational victory against Brazil in five partials (27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 20-25 and 15-13).
Their next rival will be the American team, on Sunday at 4:00 p.m., as this Saturday they will enjoy their rest date. (Text and photo: JIT)
