TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 14, 2024. – The United States defeated Cuba 3-0 (25-8, 25-11, 25-21) on the first day of competition in the Girls’ U19 NORCECA Continental Championship in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
United States obtained their first victory in pool A with a dominant performance, using all their players over the course of the match and overpowering Cuba 35-5 in attacks and 13-2 in service points. Both teams scored three blocking points. United States gave away more points from errors than Cuba (30-24).
Hazel Alevok and Elena Hoecke led the United States’ offense with 9 points each. Hazel Alevok scored a match-high of 4 aces.
Cuba’s outside hitter and captain, Yesica Brito, was the top scorer for her team with 4 points.
Cuba (0-1) will face Puerto Rico (0-1) on Monday at 4:00 PM, and the United States (1-0) will play Canada (1-0) at 6:00 PM.
The United States controlled the first and second sets with no difficulty, using their powerful serves and strong kills as their main strengths. In the third set, Cuba managed to surprise the Americans by keeping the score tight and tying at 16 points. In the end, the United States finished strong.
Aniya Warren, captain of United States: “We played strong. We started the first set, we played our game and performed what we knew how to do, being ourselves. We did good keeping up the entire game, despite it getting kind of rocky in the third. But overall, we kept fighting”.
Yesica Brito, captain of Cuba: “It was a tough start, facing one of the best teams in the tournament, a very strong team. This is only the first game, and for some of the players, it’s their first international tournament. We played well at the end of the match. Tomorrow, we will look to start strong like we did at the end today”.
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