VNL 2025

Cuba overcome late arrival troubles and beat Germany

Seven aces come in handy for the win

Published 02:01, 25 Jun 2025

Germany (GER) vs. Cuba (CUB) men - Pool 6 - Preliminary Phase #48276829

The tired Cuban players “went to bed” immediately after their victory over Germany

The Cuban team faced some travel issues on the way to Belgrade and did not have enough to time to rest between their arrival and their opening match of the second men’s Volleyball Nations League competition week, but overcame the fatigue on the court and put together a four-set win over Germany. The victory lifted Cuba to 10^th place in the current VNL standings on a 2-3 win-loss record and 6 points. They surpassed their European opponents, who dropped to 14^th place on 1-4 and 6.

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Cuba’s serving made the biggest difference in outplaying Germany on the way to a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-21) turnaround. The Caribbean squad served seven aces against Germany’s two. That count included the pulverizing serve that Jose Gutierrez fired with a superb precision right into the corner of the German half to deliver the match winner.

Gutierrez spiked another 19 points at a solid 68% success rate in attack to come up with a match-high 20 points for his team. Opposite Jose Masso added another 14 points, while middle blocker Javier Concepcion and outside Marlon Yant finished with 11 points apiece.

“What can I say? We are so tired, but we brought to the court today so much positive energy and we won against the German team. We tried to forget that we were tired,” Concepcion told VBTV. “I think this week we will do better than last week. This was a really good start, but it’s in the past. We need to forget and keep going…”

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In his first VNL 2025 match, German outside hitter Tobias Brand led his team with 17 points, including two kill blocks. Middle Lukas Maase and opposite Filip John also reached the double digits with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

“This wasn’t the best start to the week for us,” Brand said. “I am also really disappointed, because we got a lot of chances. But we didn’t play our level, so we have to improve for tomorrow. Of course, we have to do it as a team. We can do it and we have to do it!”

Wednesday’s action continues with the match between Turkiye and Slovenia, currently taking place in Burgas. Next in Belgrade, the Netherlands and Argentina will take to the court at 16:30 local time (14:30 UTC). Another five games will follow on Wednesday’s program in Burgas, Belgrade and Chicago.