Cuba Defeated Egypt for the
second time in Straight sets
 Cairo,
Egypt, July 1, 2007-: Cuba used all their weapons in blocking
and spiking to clinch their second victory over Egypt in
straight sets 25-23, 25-17, 25-22 in the sixth and last weekend
of the intercontinental round pool C at Cairo Stadium Complex in
Cairo, Egypt on Sunday. Cuba dominated the net through the tall
middle blocker, who were superior in all actions and controlled
completely the Egyptian attackers. For the second time Egyptian
players couldn’t go through the match except some time in the
first set and the end of the third set as most of the key
players were out of form. Cuba raised their points to 19 points
form a win loss ratio of 7-5 at the end of the intercontinental
round, while Egypt kept their position at the bottom of the pool
with 12 points.
The Egyptian coach changed some players in the starting line up
as he pushed Mohamed Abdel Moniem as a wing spiker with the team
captain Hamdy El Safi while Mohamed Gabal started in the
opposite position instead of Ahmed Salah who appeared in bad
performance in the first match on Friday with the Italian based
professional setter Abdalla Abdel Salam, the middle blockers
Mohamed El Sayed and Hossam Shaarawy, and the libero Wael El
Aidy. Cuba coach also changed some of the outstanding player and
started with line up including the libero Keibir Gutierrez who
was as usual one of the match stars, the setter Tomas Aldazabal
with Michael Sanchez, Roberlandy Simon, Rolando Jurquin, Pedro
Iznaga and Pavel Pimienta.
The first set started with Cuban dominance by the net through
their highly efficient centers to lead 8-6 by the first TT.
Egypt came to the match when the centers El Sayed and Shaarawy
worked well and also the opposite Mohamed Gabal who used his
efficient spikes from position 2 to come near again but Cuba
Sanchez and Simon to reach 16-13 in the STT. Cuba continued
using the middle of the net to score the points above the
Egyptian block although Egypt struggled through their backline
defense to win the first set 25-23.
The second set showed high performance from the Cuban star
Pimienta and Sanchez to lead all through the set till the result
reached 19-12 when the Egyptian coach did some substitutions to
improve the block as well as the digging against the Cuban
attacks to decrease the point deficit gradually. Again Pimienta
and Sanchez dominated the net completely to allow their team to
win the set widely 25-17.
Egypt tried to save the match in the third set when the setter
Abdalla tried to use the combinations which ended with
successful spikes from positions 2 and 4. Cuba deployed their
solid block again to lead 8-6. El Safi used his experience
spikes to draw 8-8. When Cuba increased the point deficit to
16-11, the Egyptian setter Abdalla and the libero El Aidy did
their well again to draw 16-16. The points went near till Cuba
ended the set 25-22 after a group of efficient spikes from the
Cuban star Dominico to win the match in straight sets.
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