Tag: 2022 Womens Final Six

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 11, 2022 – Dominican Gaila González won the Most Valuable Player award at the NORCECA Final Six Cup held at the Ricardo Gioriber Arias Volleyball Pavilion.

The Dominican left-hander concluded the tournament with 61 points helping Las Reinas del Caribe to win the gold medal. González was also the most outstanding in services with 13 aces and named Best Opposite.

Brayelín Martínez took the distinction of Best Spiker and best scorer while her partner Yonkaira Peña was the second most outstanding in that line and was also named Best Receiver.

Puerto Rican Neira Ortiz shone as the best blocker with 25 followed by Candida Arias who stopped the ball 13 times. Puerto Rican Shara Venegas was the Best Defender and Libero.

The captain of the Dominican team Niverka Marte was on the top of the setters with 21 setters.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 10, 2022 – In a hard-fought match, the Dominican Republic   managed to defeat the United States to win gold in the NORCECA Final Six Cup. 

The Caribbean Queens beat the Americans with a score of 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 26-24), to finish the competition without losing a single set. 

Brayelin Martinez stood out for the Dominicans, who had 20 points and Yonkaira Peña, who finished with 11. For the United States, the best player was Avery Skinner with 11 points. 

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Marcos Kwiek, entrenador de Republica Dominicana: Happy for the victory, thanks to the United States team for the excellent show they gave us. He made us play at a good level for us, that suits us a lot at this level, although the United States is a young team, they have very good players who put us in difficulties on several occasions during the game, but we were able to control and take the victory. 

Michelle Chatman, coach of Unites States: That was so fun, it was an amazing oportunity for our Young players to get out there and play against such a veteran just amazing team that is preparing to go to the World Championship so it was so fun to be on the court and battle the entire match. 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 10, 2022 – The Puerto Rican team only needed three sets to defeat the Cuban team and thus keep the Bronze medal. 

The Puerto Ricans defeated the Mexicans in straight sets with a score of (25-16, 25-18, 25-XX) and thus finished in third position in the NORCECA Final Six. 

Karina Ocasio and Brittany Abercrombie were the best scorers for the Puerto Ricans with 13-12 points respectively. For Cuba the best was Ailama Montalvo with 16 points. 

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Natalia Valentin, Captain of Puerto Rico: I think that we executed our serve very well, we practiced a lot in that, we focused on the fact that if we did not take Cuba out of their comfort zone they had to play with all the players as everyone knows Cuba is a very athletic team with a lot of power we knew that our main weapon was the serve and we focused on that. 

Gretell Moreno, Captain of Cuba: I feel very hurt because in the end I was able to give my best despite being hurt, the team really needed it and the Puerto Rican team played very disciplined, they hardly made any unforced errors so they were able to win more easily. 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 9, 2022 – The Dominican Republic team defeated the Cuban team in straight sets to earn their pass to the final of the NORCECA Final Six Cup.

The Caribbean queens did not give the Cuban team a chance after beating them with a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-16).

For Las Reinas del Caribe the best were Gaila Gonzalez and Yonkaira Peña with 17 and 13 points respectively, while for Cuba Laura Suarez stood out with 9 points and Greisy Fine with 7.

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Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: We prepared ourselves for Cuba’s aggressive game, we had a very close first set but I think that experience spoke for the rest of the match, Cuba is a young team that needs to be playing and it is in our best interest to raise their level because the more level teams have in the area will be much better for us.

Jorge Sosa, coach of Cuba: The Dominican serve was very well structured, our reception specialist did not let us play, she was the one who committed the most fouls today, we could not play with the clarity that we wanted in the mesh, that is our strength, they simply did not allow us to play.

The Dominican Republic will face the United States in the match for the highest medal of this event.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 9, 2022 – In an electrifying encounter, the United States team advanced to the gold medal match after beating Puerto Rico.

The Americans defeated the Puerto Ricans 3-1 with a score of (30-28, 26-28, 25-22, 26-24).
For the United States, Danielle Drews and Stephanie Samedy were the best scorers, both with 21 points. For Puerto Rico Karina Ocasio and Brittany Abercrombie added 23 and 21 points respectively.

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Avery Skinner, player of the United States: I think it was an amazing game for both teams it was a point to point match and for luck we could ended with the best part that was the victory.

Natalia Valentin, player of Puerto Rico: It is always difficult to play against the United States, their game system is very fast and they are agile players who have good blocking, today they defended us all the way, we tried to counterattack but we couldn’t make the ball bounce, definitely a good game for them.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 8, 2022 – In a very intense match, Canada managed to overcome the Mexican team and thus stay with the fifth position of the Final Six of the NORCECA Pan American series.

The Canadians had to battle through five sets to defeat the Mexico  team 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, 16-14) to achieve the result obtained.

For Canada, the best were Melissa Langegger and Natasha Calkins with 16 points each, while Mexico had Aime Topete as their best scorer with 20.

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Carolyn O´Dwyer, coach of Canada: I think the match was a Little bit like a roller coaster for both teams having up and downs in the hole game of course I´m happy that ended up with  a win for us and that we showed up that we are a team that can win games.

Rafael Petry, coach of  Mexico: In general, the game was very close, just like the previous one, both teams today were very similar, except for the sets in which both teams were under 20 points. I think that the first ball cost us a little more to be able to kill that first play action, I think that was the determining factor of the match.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 8, 2022 – The Dominican Republic concluded the preliminary round undefeated after beating the United States team in straight sets on the fifth day of competition.

The Queens of the Caribbean defeated the United States team this Thursday night in straight sets with a score of (25-19, 25-17, 25-19).

The Dominican Republic outperformed the United States in kills 51-30, in blocks 5-2 and in serves 4-1.

For the Caribbean Queens the best scorers were Brayelin Martinez and Gaila Gonzalez with 16 and 13 points respectively. For the United States, Danielle Drews was the best with 13.

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Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: I think we achieved our first goal, which was to qualify first regardless of being undefeated, it was the first place we were looking for, now we have to keep working, now we have to play Cuba in the semifinals and if we lose that game, everything that has been done is lost.

Michelle Chatman, coach of United States: I think our team competed really well it was an awsome enviroment  the fans were absolutely amazing playing against the Dominican Republic  that is a team that is in preparartion for the World Championship and their pleyers really showed up in the difficult moments and thats how they won.

Canada waited until the end of the regular series to stamp their first win of the NORCECA Final Six of the Pan American Series. 

They put aside the Mexican squad in straight sets by scores of 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 27-25on the middle contest of Thursday afternoon at the National Palace of Volleyball Ricardo Arias at Olympic Dominican Center. 

Canadians Calkins, Attieh, Van Buskirk and Heppell led the North American side with 17, 13, 11 and 10, respectively to the success. Karina Flores finished with 10 for Mexico.

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Melissa Langegger, captain of Canada: I think we show a lot of fight we trying prove us that we are a team and show what we can do and I think we really show that in our game today we executed well in every point and that gave us the victory.

Jocelyn Urias, captain of  Mexico: We entered the court to win, to give it our all, obviously they also came with the same attitude, it was a very hard-fought match in all sets but Canada ended up getting the victory. 

Cuba edged Puerto Rico 3-2 (23-25, 27-25, 22-25, 25-22, 13-15) to conclude the regular series of the NORCECA Final Six Pan American Volleyball Cup on Thursday afternoon at National Palace Ricardo Arias or Dominican Olympic Center. 

The Cubans finished with a 2-4 win-losses and 10 points, while de Puerto Ricans totaled 16 points fruit of 2 victory and 3 defeats. 

Despite losing the five-setter, Puerto Rico dominated in aces scores with a 10-4 difference and established a 19-16 margin in blocks. Cuba led the scores in attacks 68-58. 

Claudia Tarin and Ailama Cesé contributed 23 and 22 points, respectively, for Cuba and Fine contributed 19 tallies. For Puerto Rico, Collazo totaled 23 and Stephanie Enright added 22 points.

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Jorge Sosa, coach of Cuba: The strength of our team is the offensive elements, today Cuba did not win nor did Puerto Rico lose, today I won volleyball because a team of young girls that you manage to reach a fifth set, that is development. It was a game with high scores and a lot of intensity, Puerto Rico played well but in the end things turned out better for us.

Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico: Cuba had a very good game, they were very stable in reception and in attacks they are very powerful, we rotated the players a bit, we rested those who had played every day of course we know that all the players have the level we thought we could have won but all credit to Cuba who had a great match.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, The Dominican Republic host mixed power and finesse both from the service line and attacking near the net to build a wide margin on the scoreboard and get past the United States who defeated Canada 3-0 (25-17, 25 -13, 25-15).

The win kept the Dominican side on an undefeated record of 4-0. On Thursday they will play against the United States (3-1).

The defending champions only had Brayelin González and Gaila González (10) in double figures, but Madeline Guilén added 9 and Angélica Hinojosa and Yonkaira Peña each added 6 points.

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Marcos Kwiek, coach of the Dominican Republic: The most important thing for me is that I have the opportunity to rotate the entire team and let the younger girls gain more experience. We know that what we are going to face in the World Cup is very different from what we are playing here but everything is part of a preparation.

Carolyn O’Dwyer, Coach of Canada: We played today against a very strong team in the Dominican Republic we made a lot of unforced errors that didn’t put us in a good position we were attacking well but we couldn’t find a way to break their blocking system and defense Dominican was really good too.