FIVB Qualification Press Releases
A big beginning match on the fourth date for the Paraguayan team, who were very confident on themselves getting big differences over the Bolivian team, which the height of his central player Melanie Crone was not enough, but only to get one set to the “Charrua Team” (25-15, 25-14, 22-25, 25-16). Gladys Gonzales, Paraguayan player next to her retirement said “we knew that Bolivia came getting one set from Venezuela, we couldn’t be so confident about that”.more FIVB
Puerto Rico breezed past Barbados in the nightcap of Day One of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifier on Sunday winning by score of 25-13, 25-12, 25-19. Victor Rivera was the best Puerto Rican with 13 points and Enrique Escalante and Rene Esteves added 7 and 6 respectively.
In another match, USA debuted with a convincing victory in straight sets over the Dominican Republic by scores of 25-13, 25-19, 25-19. The Americans totalled 11 blocks against only 2 by the losers. Gabriel Gardner, Clayton Stanley and Thomas Hoff each contributed 8 points for USA, Victor Batista and Jose Caceres had 13 and 10 for Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, Cuba downed Mexico in straight sets relying on their usual strong attack. The score was 25-19, 25-23, 25-20. Raydel Corrales was the star of Cuba with 17 points, scoring in 15 of his 21 killing attempts, and Rolando Jurquin and Henry Bell each had 12. Mexican Ivan Contreras led all the scorers with 21 points.
Earlier in the day, Canada defeated Trinidad & Tobago in straight sets by scores of 25-9, 25-14, 25-15. Dallas Soonias led Canada with 11 points and Luis-Pierre Manville came off the bench to add 10 tallies. Steve Brinkman contributed 8 points. more FIVB
Venezuela and Argentina - considered ahead as possible favourite winners of the Tournament and therefore, getting the only vacant place for South America won their two matches, 3-0 and seems will decide between them - on the last match of the last date, Jan. 7th, 2008 - which team will earn the ticket to fly to the Beijing Olympic Games. More FIVB
