Cairo, Egypt, August 19, 2017 - Cuba scored their first win and handed hosts Egypt their first defeat in a 4-2 (13-15, 16-14, 10-15, 15-12, 15-11, 18-16) thriller here Saturday night, as Day 2 of the 2017 FIVB Men's U23 World Championship came to a close.
Both teams are now 1-1 in Pool A.
All matches in Cairo are played under a
new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
Egypt had the opportunity to go two sets up at the beginning of the match, but the hosts dropped a set point at 13-14 and allowed Cuba to make a three-point run and finish the set off on an ace by Marlon 'Yant' Yang.
Again in the sixth Egypt could have taken the Caribbean side all the way, but failed to capitalise on 8-11 and 11-13 leads, as Cuba rallied to reach first match point at 14-13 and finished the game on their fourth attempt with a kill from the middle by Osniel Melgarejo.
Miguel Lopez led Cuba with 17 points and Malgarejo added 13, but Egypt's Hisham Ewais was top scorer of the game with a tournament-high of 29.
Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017
FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017 - ScheduleFIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017 - Teams
FIVB.com - VolleyballFIVB.com
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