MONCTON, Canada, September 18, 2026. –Cuba will face Canada with a Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games spot on the line after a NORCECA qualification semifinal win over Dominican Republic Friday.
Cuba beat the Dominicans 3-0 (32-30, 25-19, 25-15) at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, Canada, to advance to Saturday’s 7 p.m. Atlantic Time final against the host country.
The underdog Dominicans continued to be the surprise of the week, and had six set points in the first set, but Cuba held them off to win.
Cuba held the major edge in attacks (51-35) and blocks (16-7), and also had one more ace (4-3) than Dominican Republic.
Cuba’s captain Miguel Lopez – named second-best spiker of the week’s continental championship – was the top scorer of the match with 23 points. Marlon Yant had 14 points, and Robertlandy Simon added 10 points for the Cubans. Alejandro Gonzalez and David Fiel chipped in eight each. Fiel had a match-high five blocks, while Lopez, Simon and Christian Thondike added three each. Thondike – best setter of the continental tournament – had seven points overall and 32 running sets.
Opposite Adrian Figueroa was the top-scoring Dominican with 16 points, 11 of which came in the first set. Moises Ortiz added 10, including four blocks.
Dominican Republic will have a bronze-medal rematch Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against Mexico, who they surprised with a win in their continental quarter-final matchup Monday.
Jesús Cruz López, Cuba’s head coach: “It’s the most important game in this tournament to fight for qualification for the Olympic Games tomorrow. We’re very happy to get the victory today. We have to play very good volleyball to win tomorrow; with the Dominican Republic we had to fight the whole game, from the first set, which was very difficult. But in the end, we took the victory.”
Alejandro González Rodríguez, Cuban opposite: “Dominican Republic did a good job in the first set, they came with a lot of emotion and were doing a good job. They did quite well but we did a better job to win the first set and the match.”