HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 25, 2022.- Dominican Republic recovered from an 0-2 set-deficit winning pool A over the United States 3-2 (23-25, 24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 15-8) and heading into semifinals of the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
The U.S. battled strong to win the first two sets, by close scores and missing one set point before grabbing the second. Dominicans’ reaction helped them jump to a comfortable four-point advantage in mid third set (14-10) and finished strong with a seven-point lead. The Dominican Republic forced the tie-break in a tough close fourth set, only to come out and dominate the fifth and final set.
Dominican Republic concludes pool-play undefeated (4-0) for their semifinal ticket and the U.S. second in pool A will play in quarterfinals, waiting for the result between Mexico and Canada
Dominicans scored on 37 opponent errors against 12, while the United States led in attacks (67-62), blocks (14-11) and aces (4-2).
Opposite hitter Gaila Gonzalez of Dominican Republic scored a tournament-high so far of 27 points on 24 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitters Yonkaira Peña and Bethania De La Cruz added 17 and 14 points respectively.
Outside hitter Danielle Drews led the United States with 24 points from 23 kills and one ace, Avery Skinner contributed with 21 points and opposite hitter Nia Reed registered 15 points, including a match-high of 5 blocks.
Niverka Marte, captain of Dominican Republic: “We had a great opponent on the other side, it wasn’t easy. We started off slow and they were aggressive, so we had to find our rhythm of play to find a way out. We battled up to the last point, never giving up which helped us with the victory. We are in the semifinals, but the discipline to get prepared doesn’t stop until the tournament ends”.
Kendall White, captain of United States: “In the first two sets we had a better game, with great energy, great rallies and energy from the crowd cheering for both sides. The U.S. plays every game like a championship game, we will do the same in the play-offs, just like this one, we’ll come out to win and hopefully stop the next team”.
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