Cuba keeps undefeated record at NORCECA Final Six Pan Am Cup

TEPIC, Nayarit, Mexico, July 13, 2022.- Cuba kept their undefeated record after beating Canada 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-21) at the Men’s NORCECA Final Six Pan American Cup on Wednesday at the Amado Nervo Auditorium of Tepic, Nayarit.

Cuba is the only team of the competition that remains undefeated with a solid 3-0 record, with two days left of the preliminary round. Canada stands with a 2-1 win-loss record.

Cuba dominated all the categories with 34-27 margin in attacks, 4-2 in blocks and 6-2 in aces. Cuba finished with 25 unforced errors and Canada committed 31.

Two Cuban players were the only players that scored double-digits; outside hitter Osniel Mergarejo with 12 points all from kills and outside hitter and team captain Miguel Angel Lopez collected 10 points from 7 kills, one block and two aces.

Middle blockers Fynnian McCarthy and Jordan Schnitzer led Canada with 9 and 6 points accordingly.

Cuba’s next opponent is Puerto Rico and Canadas’ is Dominican Republic.

Osniel Mergarejo, Top scorer of Cuba: “We are getting into the rhythm of the tournament to go on adding points and generating more confidence for our second important tournament of the season (FIVB Challenger Cup) because we are a team that hasn’t performed together for two years. Canada plays well tactically, but we are known for our strength in serves and attacks; we need to use our power to prevail over Canada”.

Fynnian McCarthy, Top scorer of Canada: “For us it’s just a mental thing, we kind of got psyched out from the service line and didn’t come to be aggressive, we were passive and trying to put the ball and not score points putting pressure, so our change of mentality will definitely help us; we can’t expect to win missing too many serves. In our next match we will battle hard, be aggressive in serves”.

Nicolás Vives, Head Coach of Cuba: “We are all happy, we’ve been getting into rhythm slowly because we’ve been together practicing for a short period of time. It was a good match to reach our objectives. We still need to serve better, block better as well, we must work through some difficulties; what’s important is the victory”.