Norceca: Cuba wins gold, silver for the USA, bronze for Canada.

2 min read

8 September 2019 Nathan

Cuba won the gold medal at the 2019 NORCECA Continental Championship. In the finals, they won in four sets against USA (25:18, 21:25, 25:20, 25:20).
Osniel Mergarejo and Miguel Angel Lopez with 15 points and Robertlandy Simon with 14 points were the best scorers for Cuba, while TJ Defalco and Kyle Ensing scored 12 points each for USA.

Yosvany Muñoz Perez, Cuba head coach: “I am very happy. We came here to fight for the first place, and it happened. Our players will now play professionally around the world, and we will reunite in December to prepare for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.“

John Hawks, USA head coach: “They served really well, as we expected, and I think offensively they were just a little sharper than they were the other night (when USA won in the pool match). We didn’t pass as well as we did, we lost the serve/pass game. Our guys are trying to prove ourselves to our senior teams, to be on the roster. Leaving here with the silver medal is great, but we want gold. We’re proud of the effort, but in the end we just weren’t sharp enough, so credit to Cuba, they played great.”

In the bronze medal game, Canada beat Mexico 3-0 (25:14, 25:18, 25:12).
Ryan Sclater was the top scorer with 17 points for Canada and Ridl Alexis Garay scored 10 points for Mexico.

Final game:
Cuba – USA 3-1 (25:18, 21:25, 25:20, 25:20)

Game for 3rd place:
Canada – Mexico 3-0 (25:14, 25:18, 25:12)

— Individual awards —

Most valuable player: Miguel Lopez (CUB)
Best scorer: Henry Tapia (DOM)
Best spiker: Torey Defalco (USA)
Best receiver: Jesus Rangel (MEX)
Best digger: Kyle Dagostino (USA)
Best blocker: Roamy Alonso (CUB)
Best setter: Luis Garcia (PUR)
Best opposite: Maurice Torres (PUR)
Best server: Osniel Megarejo (CUB)