U.S. sweeps Dominican Republic to win NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship
The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball team found itself in the final of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship with the Dominican Republic squad at Caguas, Puerto Rico. The Americans beat their opponents 3-0 to win the event title.
The match was expected to be thrilling and competitive as the Americans were the second ranked team in the world while the Dominican Republic was the defending champions. However, what followed was a fairly one sided win as the Americans got the champion’s
title after making a clean sweep over their opponents at the following final set scores: 25-15, 25-23 and 25-18.
A joyous American head coach, Hugh McCutheon, shared his feelings in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match had reached its close: “First of all we are happy to win the match and qualify for the FIVB World Cup. Both
teams expended a lot of energy and emotion into their semi final victories, and those matches are always difficult. Now we look forward to the World Cup and as all teams competing there, hope to qualify for the Olympic Games.”
The captain of the U.S. team Jennifer Tamas made the following remarks after her team had won the final: “Congratulations to Dominican Republic for a great match. We came here to qualify for the World Cup, and we accomplished that goal.”
The start of the opening set of the game saw the Americans take the lead at 8-3 but the Dominican Republic did not let them get too far and closed in the gap at 8-6. However, the Americans were bent on staying ahead in the first set and they did so by putting
on a run that took them to a 17-8 lead. After that point, the Dominican Republic could not do much except trail behind till the Americans had win the first set of the game at 25-15.
The loss of the first set sent a much needed wakeup call to the Dominican Republic and they stepped up their game in the second set. As a result, both the teams stayed almost neck to neck through the entire course of the frame. At one point, the Americans
were trailing behind 18-15 but were able to propel themselves forward to bag another win at 25-23.
The third set of the match started off in a competitive manner and reached a tie at 7-7. However, the Dominican Republic could not pull themselves together as the Americans went on an impressive 10-2 run that got them the champion’s title at 25-18.
The top scorer from the American side was Destinee Hooker with a total of 17 points whereas on the Dominican Republic side, Bethania De La Cruz remained most active by scoring 15 points.
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