U.S. defeats Dominican Republic by 3-0 in FIVB World Cup match - Volleyball
The American national women’s volleyball team took on the Dominican Republic squad on November 13 during the FIVB World Cup that is currently taking place in Japan. Okayama's Momotaro Arena served as the backdrop to the American's 3-0 win.
The competition did not take long to reach its final stages as the US was able to end up on the winning side after bagging three back to back sets. The first set of the match was tough to begin with but near the end the Americans were able to pull up ahead
and grab themselves the opening set advantage. The loss of the first set decreased the performance of the Dominican Republic and they put in a half hearted effort in the second set. This enabled the Americans to secure themselves another win.
The momentum generated by winning the first two sets of the game got the Americans playing well in the third set too while the Dominican Republic kept trailing far behind all through the set. As a result, the Americans sealed the deal on the match at the
following final set scores: 25-21, 25-19 and 25-14.
The coach of the American team, Hugh McCutcheon, expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match had reached its close: “We’re very happy with the win tonight. As always in this tournament every win is
critical. The Dominicans played a fantastic match yesterday and were strong again today, but I just thought our team was a little crisper and a little cleaner, and we were able to turn a few points and that helped us in the first couple of sets.”
Marcos Kwiek, the coach for the Dominican squad, also spoke to reported and stated: “Today we had some problems. Last night we had a very intense match and Prisilla Rivera has a knee injury from the continental championship, so after playing five sets last
night, she wasn’t able to play today.”
The player that was able to post the highest number of points in both the teams was Destinee Hooker of America who made her presence felt by adding a total of 23 points for her side. Hooker was helped by her teammate Foluke Akinradewo who helped in keeping
the pressure on the Dominican Republic by adding 12 points in all. On the other hand, the player that stood out from the Dominican Republic side was Bethania De La Cruz who registered 14 points in all. Cruz was followed by Milagros Cabral with 13 points.
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