The last time Cuba played for gold was in 2006 in Cartagena, Colombia when they lost to Puerto Rico. This is the 14th time that Cuba has reached the Jousting gold medal match, winning a total of ten titles.
The Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico in five sets in the semifinals 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11) on Saturday to face Cuba for the Men’s Volleyball Gold Medal of the Central American and Caribbean Games 2023.
The Dominican Republic has reached the title game of the Games on three other occasions (1962, 1986, 2014) winning only once, at the Games in Veracruz, Mexico in 2014 over Puerto Rico.
The Dominican Republic will face Cuba, who earlier won their semifinal against the representatives of Centro Caribe Sports -Guatemala-.
Puerto Rico started strong and controlled the actions of the first set, but lost two set points before reaching 25-21. The Dominican Republic turned it around by winning the next two close sets.
In the fourth, Puerto Rico came from behind until reaching a tie at 21 to force a tie-break that had a delay of more than an hour due to a leak in the roof.
The Dominicans prevailed over Puerto Rico after reaching a tie at 9 where captain Henry Tapia scored the final point of an attack.
Corner player Wilfrido Hernández was the top scorer for the Dominican Republic with 19 attack points. Captain, opposite Henry Tapia and corner hitter Hector Cruz both scored 17 points.
Puerto Rico’s captain, corner player Pedro Molina was the top scorer of the match with 22 points from 17 kills, three aces and one block. Three more players finished with double figures, the corner attacker Pelegrín Vargas (17), and the central defenders Pedro Nieves (14) and Jonathan Rodríguez (11).
Henry Tapia, Captain of the Dominican Republic: “I don’t know how to explain the happiness I feel, we have finished a difficult job.
Being on stage is not easy, there are times when the opponent’s coordination changes our game scheme and decisions must be made quickly,” said Henry Tapia, the captain of the Dominican team.
“We lost a fourth set and we thought we were already defeated; Together we coordinated well to come back in the fifth set. Right now we already have a medal hanging around our neck, along with my chains”.