SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, July 2, 2023.- Cuba was crowned Champion of the twenty fourth Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023 after winning the gold medal match to Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-22) at the Sports Palace Carlos El Famoso Hernández.
Cuba won their eleventh Central American and Caribbean title undefeated (5-0) and remains the top winner of all time in Men’s Volleyball at the CAC Games. Since 1998 that Cuba hasn’t won the championship and the last occasion they reached a title match was in 2006 when they finished second.
For Dominican Republic, this is their third bronze medal in the history of the Games (1962, 1998). Dominicans finished second with a 3-2 record.
Cuba was dominant over their opponent, despite coming from behind in the third set from a four- point deficit (9-13).
Cuba’s serves were powerful and was their key element to win the gold medal match with an 11 to two advantage. Points from attacks were balanced, Cuba scoring with 33 and Dominican Republic totalizing 27. Cuba also led in blocks 9-3. In errors they too were similar, Dominicans committing fewer, 22 against 24.
Cuba’s middle blocker Javier Concepción and teammate outside hitter Miguel Angel López shared as top scorers with 12 points each. Concepción scored the most points from serves with 4 aces. Middle blocker José Masso added 11 points.
Outside hitter Hector Cruz topped Dominicans offense with 10 points, followed by team captain Henry Tapia collecting 9 points.
Nicolás Vives, Head Coach of Cuba: “Our goal was clear, to win the Central American and Caribbean Games. Since 1998 that we haven’t been champions, and we won. Now we will continue to work for our next international competitions. Once again we showed that Cuba dominates all the elements of the game”.
Alexander Gutiérrez, Head Coach of Dominican Republic: “We are close to a higher level of play, that last set is proof of that. We are going to continue to execute, to go on improving and play against teams of the level of Cuba to reach that same level, if we don’t do that, it will be harder to reach. We are aware that we must continue to work. We took an important step, we improved our position at the Central American Games, soon we will consolidate what we’ve been doing”.
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