Cuba Loses Again in Women’s VB Championships

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 30 — Cuba’s popular “Morenas del Caribe” team disappointed fans on Saturday losing in straight sets to Germany (24-26, 17-25 and 23-25) at the Women’s World Volleyball Championships taking place in Japan.

The Cubans also lost in three sets to Croatia on Friday.

Errors were costly against the German team with Cuba committing 25 to its rivals 12, noted Juventud Rebelde online.

Kenia Carcacés and Yohana Palacios led the Cubans scorers with 17 and 12 points. Germany was led by Margareta Kozuch with 15 points, Corina Ssucschke (12) and Maren Brinker (10).

Playing in Group C of the tournament, the island’s squad must now win its final three first round matches against Kazakhstan, Thailand and the USA to guarantee a ticket to the second round of play among the top 16 teams, four from each group.

In other Group C matches on Saturday the USA beat Croatia in straight sets and Thailand won over Kazachstan three to one.  The USA and Germany now lead the round robin play with 2-0 records followed by Thailand and Croatia (1-1) and Kazakhstan and Cuba (0-2).

Cuba plays Kazakhstan on Sunday in a match that will leave one team alone in the cellar and the other with a greater chance to recover.