The “most talked” about team at both the 2015 FIVB World Championships and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Diaz and Gonzalez earned a spot in the 2017 worlds via the FIVB World Tour ranking process.  The Cubans, who are playing full-time on the FIVB World Tour for the first-time this year with a gold medal in Malaysia, captured their Olympic Copacabana pool by defeating higher-seeded pairs from Brazil, Canada and Latvia enroute to a fifth-place finish.  Competing mostly on the NORCECA circuit, Diaz and Gonzalez have compiled eight titles in 12 confederation starts the past three seasons.  The Cubans placed third at the Toronto 2015 PanAm Games where Diaz and Gonzalez defeated the Grimalt cousins of Chile for the bronze medal.