SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 21, 2024.- Puerto Rico defeated Cuba 3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 16-25, 25-22) to win the bronze medal in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup, an event that concluded on Sunday at the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
The Puerto Ricans dominated in attacks 44-42 and in blocks 14-12, while Cuba was better in serves 8-6.
Puerto Rico’s scoring was led by Klistan Lawrence with 22 points, followed by Pedro Molina with 15 and Omar Hoyos with 11. Cuba’s Carlos Santana stood out with 16 points, Víctor Flores with 15 and Alexis Wilson who contributed 13.
Alberto Torres, coach of Puerto Rico: As I had said before, we were growing in the tournament, we were going from less to more, the improvement of the boys was noticeable, they believed and that was positive because they were playing against a Cuban team that is very strong and big, so we are very happy because this medal is very important for our program.
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: It was a game where we did not know how to read what the opponent was doing to us, we lost our aggressiveness at times, we only put it into practice in the set that was won, the rest of all the technical elements were below the appropriate levels to be able to achieve a victory, so congratulations to Puerto Rico and enjoy your medal.