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USA's Women Reach a Fifth Straight NORCECA Final
They beat Cuba 3-1 at the Final Six in Zinacantepec, and Mexico swept Puerto Rico 25-10, 25-19, 25-9 to earn a home final against the defending champions.
A fifth consecutive NORCECA final is what the United States got out of Zinacantepec on Saturday, beating Cuba 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-17, 25-21) in the semi-final.
Callie Schwarzenbach scored 17 for the United States and Cuba's Yanisleidis Sanchez 21, per NORCECA's report. The set Cuba won 25-22 is the only one the Americans dropped.
They came out of pool play at five wins from five, a run that included a 3-1 against the Puerto Rico side Mexico then swept in the other semi-final.
Mexico beat Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-9) in the other semi-final. That puts the host country in Sunday's final against the defending champions.
Puerto Rico scored 38 points across the three sets and Mexico scored 75. The hosts took almost two points for every one Puerto Rico managed.
Both semi-finals were played at the Unidad Deportiva Juan Fernandez Albarran in Zinacantepec, and both of Sunday's finals fall on the same afternoon in two different countries.
The men's U23 Pan American Cup final in San Salvador is the United States against Costa Rica. The Americans got there by beating Mexico 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-20), and NORCECA's report has David Decker as the only player in that match to reach double figures, with 21.
Costa Rica beat Guatemala 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-12) to get there. No Costa Rica side had reached a men's U23 Pan American Cup final before.
The tournament is at the Palacio de los Deportes Carlos El Famoso Hernandez in San Salvador, where Nicaragua beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 for seventh place on Saturday.
The United States needed four sets and Mexico needed three. It is the fifth final in a row the Americans have reached. They hold the title going into this one.
