Cuba's men's volleyball team will face Puerto Rico today in the quarterfinals of the North, Central America and Caribbean Continental Championship (NORCECA), a tournament concluding on the 19th in Moncton, Canada, where the Olympic ticket for the Los Angeles 2028 multi-sport event is at stake.

After losing this Sunday in the close of Group B play in four sets to the United States, with scores of 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, and 14-25 in one hour and 38 minutes of play—a result that guaranteed the Americans a direct pass to Tuesday's semifinal.

In the official collective statistics of the match, the Americans were better in attack, 51 points to 40, tied in blocking (9-9) and serving (9-9), and gave up three fewer points on their own errors (22-25).

For Cuba, Alejandro Miguel González Rodríguez (15), Jordan Ewert (10), Miguel Ángel López Castro (10), and Marlon Yant Herrera (10) stood out individually, while American Jake Hanes was the match's top scorer with 27 points, supported by Matthew Anderson (17).

The United States, with three wins, finished first in Group B, followed by Cuba (2-1), the Dominican Republic (1-2), and Guatemala (0-3).

Canada (3-0) led Group A, followed by Mexico (2-1), Puerto Rico (1-2), and Curaçao (0-3), so Mexico and the Dominican Republic will meet in the quarterfinals, while Canada and the United States advanced to the semifinals.

In the other Group B match this Sunday, the Dominican Republic defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, and 25-15), while in Group A, Puerto Rico beat Curaçao 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, and 25-23) and Canada dispatched Mexico 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, and 25-20).

Jesús Cruz's disciples debuted this Friday with a 3-0 victory (25-18, 25-17, and 25-19) against the Dominican Republic and repeated on Saturday with a win by the same straight-sets margin, this time with scores of 25-13, 25-14, and 25-10.

This Monday the 14th will be the quarterfinal stage, the 15th will begin the battle for places fifth through eighth, along with the semifinal, while on the 16th fifth and seventh places will be decided, as well as the bronze and gold medal winners.

Recall that the top three teams will secure tickets to the world championship.

The semifinal for Olympic qualification is scheduled for the 18th, and on the 19th the final will decide the winning team and the holder of the berth for Los Angeles 2028.

The United States has already secured its Olympic presence by virtue of being the host.

The 14 Cubans present at the NORCECA Olympic qualifier are setters Christian Thondike and Ronaldo Flaquet, opposites Alejandro Rodríguez and Daniel Martínez, and middle blockers Robertlandy Simón, Alexis Wilson, David Fiel, and Thiago Suárez.

Completing the squad are outside hitters Miguel Ángel López, Marlon Yant, Osniel Mergarejo, and Yusniel Martí, and liberos Lázaro Arrechea and Yonder García.

The Cuban team arrived in Canada after playing several friendly and preparation matches, especially the quadrangular tournament held in Italy, where it finished undefeated in its three outings.

In its last match, it defeated Brazil at the PalaRescifina in Messina, with a score of 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-23, and 25-18), after overcoming Germany and the host Italians.

Against the Germans, the victory was 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 21-25, and 21-19), but at a venue in Reggio Calabria, while against the hosts it was in Messina, 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 16-25, 25-19, and 15-13), in that order.

The squad at that time consisted of setters Christian Manuel Thondike Mejías and Julio Alberto Gómez Gálvez, attackers Nivaldo Nadhir Díaz Gómez, Marlon Yant Herrera, and Miguel Ángel López Castro, and middle blockers David Fiel Rodríguez, Robertlandy Simón Aties, Thiago Suárez Mendoza, and Alexis Wilson Velázquez.

The team was completed by opposites Alejandro Miguel González Rodríguez and José Israel Masso Álvarez, and liberos Yonder García Álvarez and Lázaro Arrechea Najarro.

Previously, Cruz's pupils participated in another preparation and friendly tournament in Russia, where they closed with a 3-0 victory against the local squad in Ufa, capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The set scores were 25-22, 34-32, and 25-20, a result with which they bid farewell to the matchup with a record of two wins and one loss.

They also defeated Belarus 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 27-25, and 25-21), but then lost 0-3 (16-25, 19-25, and 22-25) against Iran.

The team from the largest Antillean island arrived in Bashkortostan after splitting honors, in both cases in five sets, in preparation matches against Dinamo LO in Sosnovy Bor, a city in the Leningrad region.

First they fell with scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 15-25, and 12-15, but then they redeemed themselves with scores of 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 23-25, and 15-11—very good results against a highly competitive squad.