The final four are set: Canada will square off with Cuba in one semifinal match while the United States takes on Puerto Rico in the other.
Those are the four teams left vying for the gold medal at the 2013 NORCECA men’s volleyball Continental championships.
The week-long tournament is being held at the Langley Events Centre.
The semifinals are tonight (Sept. 27) with the U.S. and Puerto Rico playing at 6 p.m. and the Canada/Cuba match to follow at 8 p.m.
The bronze medal game is Saturday at 6 p.m. and the championship final is at 8 p.m.
Both Canada and the U.S. bypassed the quarter-finals after winning their first two matches.
And in Thursday’s quarter-finals, Puerto Rico won with relative ease, sweeping Mexico 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-22).
Puerto Rico had a solid performance by Roberto Muñiz and Ezequiel Cruz with 15 and 10 points respectively. For Mexico, Daniel Vargas scored 10, while Tomas Aguilera, Jorge Quinones and Jesus Valdemar Valdes registered seven apiece.
The other quarter-final was a different story as Cuba needed five sets to out-last the Dominican Republic 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-12).
Both teams played the longest match of the tournament and had a total combined points of 208. Jose Caceres finished as top scorer with 31 points for the Dominican team while Elvis Contreras scored 17 and captain Wilfrido Hernandez 13.
For Cuba, Rolando Cepeda tallied 22 and was followed by Lazaro Fundora with 17 and Javier Ernesto Jimenez with 13.
