U.S. men’s national volleyball team defeats Cuba by 3-2 in a the 2011 FIVB World League match

Despite the fact that the U.S. men’s national volleyball team was able to win the match against Cuba by 3-2 on Friday, their progress into the 2011 FIVB World League has come to a halt. Being positioned third in Pool F of the Final Round of the tournament,
the U.S. team will not be moving onto the semifinals.

However, the U.S. squad made the most of their match against Cuba and both the teams put on an exciting show that was reflected by the final set scores indicating a U.S. win at 23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-13.

Alan Knipe, the head coach of the U.S. team, made the following comments at the end of the match: “We played some guys tonight that haven’t played in the tournament. I thought they played very well. Their numbers were good, but more importantly, I thought
they showed a lot of composure. I thought there were some opportunities in set 4, particularly early, to make it easier on ourselves that we didn’t capitalize on.”

The first set of the match went in favour of the Cuban squad as they were able to take the lead at 8-6. Cuba did not relinquish its advantage even after the first technical time out and were dominating the courts at 12-9. However, the U.S. team was not about
to lose hope and were able to step up their game to make the first set reach a tie at 13-13. After the Cubans got the lead for a brief amount of time, the U.S. side was able to get their first lead at 17-16 which they were able to extend till 22-21. As the
opening set reached its close, Cuba was able to win it on a U.S. out of bounds shot.

The U.S. team started off the second set with determination and took the lead at 4-2 which they were able to extend till 12-10. The American side was still in a leading position after the second time out at 16-13. The Cubans could not get their footing right
in and the U.S. squad was easily able to seal the deal at 25-21.

After a tie at 5-5, the U.S was leading the third set at 8-7. The U.S. did not let go of the advantage but the Cubans kept trialing close behind at 14-13. The Cubans could not make much head way as the Americans closed the set with a 25-18 win.

The Cubans were able to give themselves a winning chance in the match by taking on the fourth set of the game but the final set rested with the American squad.

The end of the World League for the U.S. squad has come with a record showing one win and two defeats whereas their overall League statistics stand at 9-6. On the other hand, the Cuban side has not been able to secure any win in the Final Round, registering
three defeats in all. The overall record of the Cubans stands at 8-7.