USA earns bronze in Pan American Games - Volleyball news
The bronze medal match of the women’s volleyball tournament at the Pan American Games took place on the Thursday, October 20, between the United States and Dominican Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Americans walked away with a podium finish and a bronze
medal in four sets.
The first set of the match saw both the teams come out strong but as the frame reached its close, the Dominican Republic was able to assert themselves. The second set saw the Dominican Republic struggle as the Americans were able to gain the second set win.
After a tough third set, the Americans were leading the game by 2-1. The fourth set brought the U.S. team a comfortable win and they sealed the deal on the match at the following final set scores: 23-25, 25-23, 25-20 and 25-19.
The coach of the American squad, Andy Banachowski, expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match reached its close: “Our team is ecstatic for winning a medal. One of our goals was to win a medal, congratulate
to Dominican Republic. They played an extraordinary tournament. They are very strong team and they showed that tonight, and we managed to come back and to win it.”
On the other hand, the coach of the Dominican Republic team, Marcos Kwiek, made the following comments after the match: “We are not happy, but we hope to analyze the competition very quietly. We came here aspiring for a medal and every time we come to an
event like this we always look for that goal. It was going to be tough, we played the most sets.”
The player that was able to tally the most points in the entire match was Cynthia Barboza of the American side. Barboza was able to keep the pressure on the Dominican Republic side by putting up a total of 23 points. Barboza was helped by her teammate Lauren
Gibbemeyer who made her presence felt by adding 16 points of her own. On the Dominican Republic team, the most active player was Bethania De la Cruz who scored a total of 26 points in the entire match. Cruz was helped by her teammate Prisilla Rovera and Lisvel
Eve who scored 15 and 11 points respectively.
The American team was able to outperform their rivals in the entire match but particularly, the blocking skills of the U.S. squad were superior to that of the Dominican Republic as the U.S. team was able to put up a total of 22 points via blocks.
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