Cuba's captain Diaris De La Caridad Perez overcomes Brazil's blockers Lorenne and Lays
Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 15, 2017 – Cuba outplayed reigning champions Brazil 4-1 (15-12, 9-15, 15-10, 17-15, 16-14) in an hour and 16 minutes on Friday night to destroy Brazil’s hope for a semifinal spot here at the 2017 FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship. Thus, Bulgaria booked the last semifinal spot from Pool B with one win and two points more than the titleholders.
All matches in Ljubljana are played under a
new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
Cuba, on the other hand, finish fourth in Pool B to stay in the competition for the 5-8 semifinals.
Cuba’s Heidy Casanova Alvarez led the Caribbean with a match-high 23 kills, including one block and one ace while Edinara scored 17 winners for Brazil. Cuba had the edge in attacks (46-39), Brazil led the stats in blocking (11-9) and serving (5-1). However, the reigning champions committed more mistakes than Cuba (16-11).