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The Cuban men's volleyball team lost to Italy three sets to one (21-25, 25-22, 19-25, and 13-25) in their third match of the Nations League, distancing themselves further from the Olympic dream for Paris 2024.
Cuba, which entered the competition under pressure to secure a spot for Olympic qualification, lost 1.44 points in the ranking, now occupying the eleventh place in the qualifying list.
Now it waits for the performance of Serbia, which will face the United States tonight.
In an erratic game on Thursday night in Ottawa, the Italian team outperformed Cuba in attack (50-46), blocks (11-6), and serves.
Although the first set was closely contested and the island team won the second by a narrow margin of 25-22, the Cuban team faced significant difficulties in the third set, which Italy capitalized on to take the lead.
The top scorers for Cuba were Marlon Yant with 16 points and Michael Sánchez with 10.
Cuba showcased a lack of coordination. Unforced errors continue to be the team's Achilles' heel, along with the inability to close sets effectively, as reported by Cubadebate.
On Saturday, the Cubans will face France, the Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, at the end of their second week.
In the third week, Cuba will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where they will face the local team, as well as those from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Poland.
So far, the teams that have secured their spots for Paris 2024 are: France, as the host; Germany, Brazil, Japan, the United States, Poland, and Canada.
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