Cuba Falls to China in Volleyball (W)

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 13— Cuba’s women’s volleyball team lost their first semifinal match on Saturday to China three sets to one in the world championships taking place in Japan.  The “Morenas del Caribe” will now play for 11th place in their final match on Sunday against The Netherlands.

The Cubans got off to a strong start taking set one easily 25-16, but then fell 22-25, 19-25, 22-25.

Cuba’s team captain Yusidey Silie commented after the match:  “First I’d like to congratulate Chinese players and looking back on the game today, each player was not performing well. But we have another game coming up so we’ll do our best moving forward,” reported the World Volleyball Federation website.

In other matches on Saturday Russia defeated the USA 3-1 (25-16, 13-25, 25-19, 25-21), Italy blanked Serbia 3-0 (20-25, 15-25, 22-25); Turkey won the tie-breaker over Germany 3-2 (25-23, 25-18, 14-25, 20-25, 15-11), and  Poland over The Netherlands 3-2 (24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 19-25, 15-9).

In the other semifinal match host Japan and Brazil will play in the coming hours.

For more tournament information see the official website.