PARIS, France, August 11, 2024.- The United States won the Paris 2024 Olympic Games silver medal on Sunday at the South Paris Arena 1 making their fifth-straight Olympic podium appearance and becoming the country with the most Olympic medals in women’s indoor volleyball.
United States won the silver medal for an overall of seven Olympic medals after falling to Italy 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17), the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking.
For the USA, getting silver meant making a fifth-straight podium appearance after taking silver in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, bronze in Rio 2016 and gold in Tokyo 2020. Their roster in Paris contained nine Tokyo Olympic champions, including outside hitter Jordan Larson, who was present in the team’s last four Olympic campaigns.
“It’s bittersweet but mostly sweet,” middle blocker Haleigh Washingon added. “It’s hardware and it’s second-best in the world. We went through so much adversity and for us to come out of this tournament with hardware, it’s really great. You take the victories where you can get them. There’s definitely the feeling that we could have done better in the final. But to be able to represent the United States again and to be able to compete at such a high level and still get a result, it gets me thrilled.”
Opposite Paola Egonu led the Italian offense with 22 points. Outside hitters Myriam Sylla and Caterina Bosetti also had solid scoring displays, tallying ten and nine points respectively.
The Americans made several substitutions during the match to try and find the best way to stop Italy and had in opposite Jordan Thompson, who came off the bench, their most productive player, with eight points. Outside hitter Avery Skinner added another seven.
“Knowing where we started at the beginning of this quad and even where we were two months, to be able to play for gold, we couldn’t have asked for anymore,” setter Jordyn Poulter reflected. “Italy are the best team in the world. They could have been in the last quad too, but I think they had some little things to figure out. I think they felt very confident and assured of what they were chasing coming into this final and I feel happy for them as a country and a program for getting their first medal and for it to be gold.”
The gold won in Paris was the first-ever Olympic medal for Italian women in volleyball and are now the seventh nation to hold Olympic gold medals among the women, joining the former USSR (four), China (three), Cuba (three), Brazil (two), Japan (two) and the United States (one).
The Italians were more effective than the Americans in every scoring skill, beating their opponents in kills (45 to 35), blocks (11 to zero) and aces (seven to three), which made their higher numbers of errors (17 to 12) don’t have much of an impact in the match.
“We’re all very emotional and happy about all that happened,” middle blocker Sarah
PARIS, France, August 9, 2024.- Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have captured silver in beach volleyball at Paris 2024.
The duo fell In the first-ever three-set final in the history of women’s Olympic beach volleyball 24-26, 21-12, 10-15 to top-ranked Ana Patrícia Silva Ramos and Eduarda “Duda” Santos Lisboa of Brazil in Friday night’s gold medal match.
Canada fought off three Brazilian set points – and had a couple of their own – before falling 26-24 in the opening set. The Canadians stormed back in the second, winning 21-12, but dropped the third and deciding set, 15-10.
The medal is Canada’s first in women’s beach volleyball at an Olympic Games and the country’s second ever in the sport. John Child and Mark Heese won bronze in men’s beach volleyball at Atlanta 1996, which was the sport’s Olympic debut.
It’s the second Olympic appearance for both Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson – but their first as a duo. The two formed a partnership in October 2022 and made their debut as a pairing on the Beach Pro Tour in February 2023. They have found quick success together with this Olympic medal joining the silver they won at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
“It’s incredible. I think every athlete wishes to be in a position where they can get a gold medal, to be in the finals, because it takes so much hard work to even just get to this place,” said Brandie. “We are still hungry for that gold medal, because we’re competitors and because we know we belong in that spot just as equally as our fellows, the Brazilians. We continue to bring out the best in each other and we are looking forward to playing them again. But for now we’ll take the silver medal with us with our heads held high, because it’s going to make a difference and have ripple effect for Canada to know that we are one of the best in the world at this sport.”
“It’s taking care of the opportunities you have. It’s taking risks when you have to, and it’s managing the momentum,” Melissa stated. “You know, it was a momentum game and you can’t ever take your foot off the gas. People are going to be coming, they’re going to be your opponents and are there for a reason. They’re there to push you. They challenge you until you’re going to respond. So I think, we let too many sideout opportunities slip and then we had some opportunities to get them back, and we didn’t take advantage of those. It happens. I mean, that’s the game of volleyball, that’s a sport.”
Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes Olympic Silver Medalists (Photo FIVB)
Reaching the gold medal match was anything but easy for the duo. The two finished 1-2 in the preliminary phase, forcing them to play in a lucky loser match in order to reach the next round.
After beating Czechia in two sets in the lucky loser round, Canada pulled off a major upset in the round of 16, eliminating the No. 2 ranked team in the world – Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth of the United States – to qualify for the quarterfinals. After defeating Spain in the quarters, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson had to go up against Tanja Hüeberli and Nina Brunner of Switzerland in the semifinals, a team that hadn’t dropped a single set in Paris.
The Swiss won the first set, 21-14, only to have the Canadians storm back and take a close second set, 22-20. Canada then took the first-to-15 third set, 15-12, to qualify for the gold medal match. That game, in a way, was a reflection of the team’s entire tournament.
Earlier in the day, Hüeberli and Brunner won the bronze medal, defeating Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in two sets.
PARIS, France, August 9, 2024.- Ending the men’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Games with the bronze medals around their necks was the goal for both the United States and Italy, but the Americans were the ones to succeed in the task after they won the exciting battle for the third place held on Friday at the South Paris Arena 1.
With both teams looking reinvigorated after dealing with tough semifinal losses on Wednesday, the United States played better in the decisive moments of each set to triumph 3-0 (25-23, 30-28, 26-24) and claim the last spot available on the podium in Paris.
Opposite Mat Anderson overcomes Italy’s double block (Photo FIVB)
The victory placed the Americans back among the top three teams at the Olympics after they couldn’t make it past pool play in Tokyo three years ago. It was their third bronze and the sixth overall medal won by the country in men’s volleyball – they also have golds in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Beijing 2008 and bronzes from Barcelona 1992 and Rio 2016.
Seven members of the Paris squad got to celebrate their second Olympic medals as they were also with the team in Brazil eight years ago – setter Micah Christenson, opposite Matt Anderson, outside hitters Aaron Russell and Thomas Jaeschke, middle blockers David Smith and Max Holt and libero Erik Shoji.
Shoji (Photo FIVB)
The Paris Games also marked the end of a cycle for the Americans, who will see some core players step away from the national team after several years and multiple Olympic appearances – 39-year-old Smith, 37-year-olds Anderson and Holt, 36-year-old Garrett Muagututia and 34-year-old Shoji are the most likely candidates to end their international careers.
For Italy, the fourth-place finish keeps the reigning world champions out of the podium in two consecutive editions of the Games for the first time since Barcelona 1992 – the Italians won five of their six medals in the eight editions of the event held since then.
United States celebrates winning the Olympic Bronze Medal (Photo FIVB)
The bronze medal match victory also lifted the Americans to second place in the FIVB World Ranking, as they gained two spots with the 12.93 points won, which elevated their total to 365.87. Italy, on the other hand, went down from third to fifth, with 347.10.
Aaron Russell was the top American scorer in the match, producing 15 points for the winners. Fellow outside hitter TJ Defalco and Holt also had strong performances, with 12 and 11 points respectively.
With 17 points each, opposite Yuri Romanò and outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto were the top scorers in the Paris 2024 bronze medal match and led Italy on the court.
PARIS, France, August 8, 2024.-Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson are the first finalists and, hence, the first team to secure a spot on the Olympic beach volleyball podium at Paris 2024. In Thursday’s first semifinal, the fourth-seeded Canadians denied an opponent match point in the second set to mount a solid comeback against Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli & Nina Brunner.
The block was Canada’s main weapon on the way to their 2-1 (14-21, 22-20, 15-12) victory. It brought them seven points, all authored by Brandie, against only four on the Swiss side. In key moments, the North Americans also capitalized on the opponents’ unforced errors to edge ahead in the game. Brandie was the best scorer of the match with 25 points, also including an ace. With two serving points of her own, Melissa finished with 12 points. The serving was much more prolific on Switzerland’s side. Hüberli put away three aces in addition to four kill blocks towards a 21-point tally, while Brunner fired four aces and finished with 19 points.
Melissa & Brandie took the early lead in the first set and even opened a three-point gap, but Hüberli & Brunner caught up at 9-9. After 11-11, the Swiss broke away with a five-point run and never looked back. They dominated with their offence and their serves and cruised on to a convincing 21-14 close. The second set was way more competitive. The lead changed hands several times. Hüberli & Brunner reached match point at 20-19, but Melissa & Brandie reacted with three in a row to snatch the set at 22-20. That was the first set Hüberli & Brunner lost since the start of the tournament. The Swiss recovered from Canada’s early 4-1 run in the tie-breaker and even took the lead momentarily at 10-9. Three points in a row after 11-11 brought in match point for the North Americans, which soon turned into a 15-12 victory on a defensive error by the opponents for the winning point.
“We knew it was going to be an extremely hard-fought game. Switzerland is an incredible team. They’ve been playing really well this season. They were kind of peaking and the last battle we had with them didn’t go our way,” Melissa told the FIVB after the match. “So we knew that they were going to come out strong. We didn’t come out as strong, but what we still had was a full tank left of heart, grit and perseverance. I think that’s what kind of showed up at the end of that second set. I don’t think we played great volleyball, but I think we didn’t let it go. We weren’t going to let it slip out of our hands easily. And then, the third set was a completely new battle and you get re-energized and start from zero again. It’s a wide open playing field and anyone’s game at that point.
“In the end it was an out-of-body experience. I’m a runner. I think my body just has this huge release and I just need to get that energy out. We’re right on track and I don’t think we played our best volleyball yet. That’s still somewhere inside and I think tomorrow is the day to bring it out.”
“We came for it all! Absolutely!” Melissa confirmed. “I mean, we can stand with our heads proud that we have that opportunity for a medal, but we won’t lose sight that the gold is our goal.”
Melissa & Brandie’s opponent in Friday’s final will be decided between top-seeded Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) of Brazil and Australia’s Mariafe Artacho Del Solar & Taliqua Clancy.
PARIS, France, August 7, 2024.- The U.S. men’s beach team of Miles Partain and Andy Benesh completed their Olympic run in Paris in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) loss to Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar on Wednesday. Partain and Benesh, the youngest U.S. men’s beach team in Olympic history, ran off three consecutive wins to reach the quarters.
“I think everyone gave their best effort,” Partain said.” I am pretty confident in that and I am happy we got to represent the U.S. along with the other three teams.”
Cherif/Ahmed earned their country’s first medal in Olympic history with the bronze in Tokyo and earlier in Paris, defeated the top seed in pool play.
The U.S. was nearly even statistically in kills (23-22 Qatar) and were even in blocks (5-5). Qatar served the only two aces, but the difference was points on opponent errors as Qatar benefited from 12 U.S. errors, while making only three of its own.
Benesh scored 15 points on 10 kills and five blocks, with Partain contributing 12 kills and five digs.
“I thought Qatar played really well,” Benesh said. “They are a great team. They executed really well. I thought our intention was good, we just didn’t execute as well as them and they deserved to win tonight, but proud of how we played and thankful to have Miles as a teammate.”
Neither team could gain more than a one-point advantage until Qatar ran off four consecutive points for a 11-8 lead in the opening set, which led to Partain/Benesh taking their timeout. A Partain dig and Benesh kill cut the gap back to one point, 11-10, before the side switch.
Benesh recorded back-to-back blocks to regain the lead, 12-11. Two errors, one a serving and another hitting, gave Qatar the lead again. Cherif ended the long rally with a block to make it 14-12. Three hitting errors in a row gave Qatar a five-point lead, 17-12. A Cherif kill off the block extended the run to 7-0 before a hitting error ended it. Another Cherif block gave Qatar set point. After a Partain kill, Cherif scored on a second ball as Qatar ended the set on a 10-2 run.
Benesh added four kills to his three blocks to score seven points in the set with Partain registering six kills. Kills (10-10) and blocks (3-3) were even, but the U.S. made eight errors, while Qatar made just one.
After trailing 4-3, Qatar went on a 4-1 run to take a 7-5 lead in the second set. An ace that trickled off the net increased the lead to three, 10-7. A Partain kill on a second ball and a Benesh block brought the U.S. back within a point, 11-10.
Qatar scored the first two points after the side switch to go back up by three points. Despite multiple great digs by Ahmed, who is the top defender in this year’s Olympics, and hustle by Cherif, the U.S. scored the next point to pull back within two points and lead to a Qatar timeout. A Cherif block gave Qatar its biggest lead of the set, 16-12, before the side switch.
A net violation extended the lead to five points before the U.S. scored. A sixth service error made it 18-13. A Benesh kill and his fifth block of the match closed the gap to three points. The U.S. looked like it was going to pull within two, but more tremendous defense by Ahmed prevented it.
A Benesh kill on a second ball made the score 19-16 before the side change. A Qatar kill gave them match point with an ace ending the match. Benesh led the U.S. with eight points on six kills and two blocks, while Partain again totaled six kills.
The match was the first in the last four meetings between the teams that did not go three sets. Partain/Benesh won in Ostrava earlier this year 15-8 in the deciding set after each team won a set 21-19. Cherif/Ahmid dropped the first set in both meetings in 2023 but came back to win in the third set each time, 15-9 in Ostrava and 20-18 on their home court in Doha. In their only previous matchup that did not go the distance, Cherif/Ahmid took both sets 22-20 in Maldives (South Asia) in 2022.
PARIS, France, August 7, 2024.- The U.S. Men’s National Team will play for the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics after falling to Poland, 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) in the semifinals on Wednesday. The U.S. (4-1) will meet the loser of the Italy-France match on Friday at 7 a.m. PT. Poland was playing in the semifinals after losing in the quarterfinal round five consecutive times.
“One of the great challenges in this event is when you have hopes for gold, but then you got to regroup mentally and go compete,” Head Coach John Speraw said about being in the bronze medal match.
The U.S. led in kills (68-62) and were even in blocks (4-4). Poland held a slight advantage in aces (6-4). The U.S. scored 32 points off opponent error, while making 29 of its own.
Opposite Matt Anderson continued his incredible Olympics, leading all players with 23 kills and added an ace to finish with 24 points. He hit at a .459 efficiency percentage. Outside hitter Aaron Russell also reached the 20-point plateau with 18 kills and two blocks, hitting .517 for the match. Anderson added eight digs and eight successful receptions, while Russell led the team with 19 successful receptions and recorded six digs.
Libero Erik Shoji played another outstanding match and recorded another double-double with 13 successful receptions and a team-leading 10 digs.
Libero Erik Shoji (Photo FIVB)
“It’s physically and mentally exhausting,” Shoji said. “We have to come back and play in two days. We want to be fighting for a gold and that sucks, but bronze is important and we’re going to do everything we can to win that one.”
Setter Micah Christenson directed the offense and added seven digs.
Wilfredo Leon of Poland led all players with 26 points on 22 kills, two blocks and two huge aces.
Middle blocker Max Holt contributed 12 points on nine kills with a .750 hitting efficiency percentage without an error in 12 attacks. He also recorded a block, two aces, and four kills. Outside hitter Thomas Jaeschke came off the bench to score 10 points on nine kills and a block. Middle blocker Taylor Averill finished with eight points on five kills in seven attacks, two blocks and an ace.
Poland started fast by scoring five of the first seven points and led by as many as four points on four occasions early in the set. Back-to-back kills by Anderson brought the U.S. started a 5-1 U.S. run that tied the set at 13. Poland responded with a 3-0 run and forced a U.S. timeout.
A third Poland block extended the lead back to four, 19-15. The U.S. was unable to get closer than three points the rest of the set until Anderson’s sixth kill closed the gap to 24-22 on the second set point by Poland. After a hitting error, Poland recorded a kill on its fourth set point. Anderson hit at a .556 clip in the set with six kills and one error in eight attacks. Russell scored three points on a pair of kills and a block.
Setter Micah Christenson during the match against Poland (Photo FIVB)
The U.S. took its first lead of the second set on a Russell block to make it 4-3. A Holt stuff block gave the U.S. its first two-point lead, 6-4. The teams traded the next 12 points before an Averill ace extended the advantage to three points, 13-10 and led to a Poland timeout.
After a hitting error upped the lead to four, 18-14, Leon recorded back-to-back kills to cut the deficit in half. Poland pulled within a point, 21-20, on an ace. The U.S. came out of a timeout and regained the two-point advantage as Russell scored his third point in a row for the U.S. Garrett Muagututia served what the U.S. thought was an ace, which it called for during the play, but upon review, it went off a Poland player’s foot. Poland scored on the replay and scored on an overpass to tie the set at 22.
The U.S. had a swing to take the second set at 24-23 but hit the ball into the net. After Poland’s third consecutive service error, The U.S. had another swing for the set but hit the ball out. Shoji perfectly passed a great serve by Leon to set up an Anderson kill for the lead. The U.S. converted its third set point when Anderson’s dig led to Russell’s fourth kill. Russell finished the set with five points, adding a block. Holt scored four points on three kills and a block, and Anderson scored on all three of his attacks.
Averill earned a kill against a triple block and after Poland hit a ball into the net, the U.S. went out in front 7-4 in the third set. After the lead diminished to a point, a Holt ace and hitting error made it 10-7 and led Poland to take its first timeout. The teams traded the next four points with Anderson recording two more kills. Jaeschke ended a long rally to give the U.S. a four-point lead, 13-9. On the play, the Polish libero Pawel Zatorski collided with setter Marcin Janusz and was on the floor for three minutes before returning to play with an injured left arm.
The U.S. scored the next three points after the delay to stretch the lead to seven, 16-9. Anderson sandwiched a kill in between blocks by Christenson and Averill. The lead grew to 10, 22-12 on a Russell kill and a dig by Jaeschke that went over the net and just caught the back line. Jaeschke gave the U.S. a 24-13 lead on a kill and a Russell tip over the block in the middle gave the U.S. a 2-1 set lead. Jaeschke, playing in his first set in the match, scored five points on four kills and a block. Russell recorded five kills on six attacks and Anderson scored three times on four attacks. The U.S. hit .600 in the set with 14 kills and only two errors in 20 total attacks.
Poland scored two of the first three points of the fourth set, but the U.S. ran off the next to four points to force an early timeout. With the score 3-2, Janusz was feeling the effects of his collision with his libero and came off the court to get treatment on his back. Anderson scored after Shoji made another incredible dig and then served an ace for a 5-2 lead.
A Holt kill gave the U.S. its biggest lead, 9-5. An Anderson kill aided by miscommunication on the Poland side made it 12-9, but Poland went on a 4-1 run to tie the set at 13. The U.S. took two-point leads at 15-13 and 16-14 on Anderson kills, but Poland went ahead with a 3-0 run, culminating with a block. Another block made it 18-17 Poland before the U.S. went on its own 3-0 run. An Anderson kill tied the set and after a hitting error, Holt recorded an ace for a 20-18 lead.
Poland fought back with a 6-2 run, earning its first set point on a Leon ace. Russell scored to defend on set point, but Tomasz Fornal’s fourth kill in five attacks sent the match to a fifth set. Anderson led all players with nine points on eight kills and an ace. Russell recorded four kills.
An Anderson kill started the fifth set, but it was the last U.S. lead of the match. Poland scored the next three points on a kill, ace and block to lead the U.S. to take an early time out. The U.S. appeared to tie the set 4-4, but Poland successfully challenged a block touch for a 5-3 lead. A perfect pass by Shoji led to a Russell kill to cut the lead to one, 6-5, but back-to-back points by Poland made it 8-5 with the side switch.
A Russell kill on an overpass cut the deficit to one, 8-7, but consecutive errors (service and net violation) restored Poland’s three-point advantage. After a Poland service error, Holt served an ace to cut the lead back to one point, 11-10, and lead to a Poland timeout. A kill out of the middle kept Poland ahead and a block made it 13-10.
Leon’s 21st kill of the match gave Poland four match points. Jaeschke and Anderson’s kills extended the match and led to a Poland timeout. A hitting error made it 14-13, but Poland sealed its trip to the gold medal match on another kill by Leon. Holt led the U.S. with three points on two kills and an ace.
PARIS, France, August 7, 2024.- Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson secured their spot in the Olympic beach volleyball semifinals today with a win over Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno of Spain.
Fourth-seeded Melissa & Brandie outclassed young Spanish sensations Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno, seeded 18th, on the way to a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) win. Improving to a 4-2 win-loss record at Paris 2024, the Canadian pair advanced to the semifinals.
The first set was very tight and competitive through 15-15. At that point, Melissa & Brandie broke away with four in a row and closed the set at 21-18 shortly after on a long serve by the opponents. Alvarez & Moreno were the first to break away in the second set, with four in a row for 8-5, but the Canadians reacted swiftly, and also with four in a row, gained a 10-9 lead. At 14-14 was the last time the score was tied. Melissa & Brandie took control and never let go until Melissa’s elegant hit closed the match at another 21-18.
Brandie led the way with 17 points, including three kill blocks. Melissa contributed another 13 points towards the victory. Moreno led the Spanish team with 15 points.
“We knew they would come out strong and we had to be patient on our side defensively, and just kind of play free and loose,” said Humana-Paredes. “And we had to put a big emphasis on our offense and staying aggressive; making sure that we were dialed in… and put some service pressure on. Kudos to us for staying patient because it was back and forth there for a while.”
This is the first time Canada has reached the semifinals in women’s beach volleyball at the Olympic Games (the previous best result was fifth).
Tomorrow, in the semifinals, Canada faces Hüberli/Brunner of Switzerland at 5 pm local time/ 11 am ET.
“Every single team here is of excellent caliber, so every time it’s a difficult game,” said Wilkerson. “But luckily, we’ve faced a lot of challenges before getting to this… I’m proud of our team and our resilience and grit.”
PARIS, France, August 6, 2024.- The U.S. women’s beach team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng finished fifth at the Paris Olympics after dropping their quarterfinal match to the Swiss combination of Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) on Tuesday. The 2023 world champions ended the Olympics with a 4-1 record.
Cheng finished the match with 17 points on 16 kills and a block, and Hughes totaled eight points on five kills and three aces. The U.S. scored on 12 opponent errors, while committing only seven, but could not overcome the margin in kills (26-21) and service aces (7-3). There were only three blocks in the match, two by the Swiss.
“I think we fought back so hard in the first,” Cheng said. “I think I made a few too many errors early on in the first but we came back and just one or two aces and the game is over, you know? I think similarly to the second, I whiffed two balls out and an ace down the middle again and the game is gone.”
The U.S. scored the first two points on a Cheng kill on a second ball, but Hüberli/Brunner took a 4-3 lead on a block and never trailed the remainder of the set. Another block gave the Swiss their first two-point lead. Two aces helped push the lead to four, 14-10. Hughes/Cheng scored four of the next five points to force a Swiss timeout.
Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng finish fifth in Paris (Photo FIVB)
An incredible play by Brunner put the Swiss back up by three points, 17-14. The teams exchanged the next four points before a fifth ace pulled the Swiss within one point of the set. A service error followed by a Hughes ace foiled two set points, but a crosscourt kill ended the opening set. Cheng recorded five kills with Hughes adding three kills and an ace.
Hüberli/Brunner led 5-4 in the second set before going on a 3-0 run that finished with a kill off a great dig. After a timeout, the U.S. scored the next two points on a service error and hitting error to pull within two points and head back to the better scoring side of the court with the wind in their faces.
Cheng scored three times to bring the U.S. within one point and then tied the match at 11-11, the first tie since early in the first set. Hüberli/Brunner regained the lead on a point in spite of two great digs from Hughes. After the U.S. tied it again at 12, Hughes served an ace and Cheng scored down the line to put the U.S. ahead by two points for the first time since it was 2-0 to start the match.
The Swiss called a timeout and scored the next two points, the second on their sixth ace of the match. An incredible dig by Brunner helped put the Swiss ahead, 17-16. A Cheng kill evened the score again. Leading 18-17, Brunner served her fourth ace to move back ahead by two points. A Cheng tip on a second ball made it 19-19, but the Swiss took the match on a pair of off-speed points. Cheng scored 11 points on 10 kills and a block.
Hughes did her best to summarize her first Olympic experience after reaching its conclusion in the quarterfinal.
“[Feeling] all the emotions,” said Hughes. “Grateful to be here. Letdown that we didn’t come out with the win, but also proud of the fight that we gave. I feel like we also have so much left in the tank and so much more to give. You know sometimes in sports it just doesn’t go your way, but we fought as hard as we could.”
PARIS, France, August 6, 2024.- Dominican Republic ended the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in eight place after falling 0-3 (22-25, 13-25, 17-25) to Brazil in quarterfinals on Tuesday at the South Paris Arena 1.
Brazil led in attack points (43-30), in blocking (10-4) and in aces (5-2). The Dominican Republic committed 17 errors and Brazil 16.
Outside hitter Yonkaira Peña was the most effective Dominican player in the match, with 12 points (all in kills), followed by fellow outside hitter Brayelin Martinez and her sister, middle blocker Jineiry Martinez, who registered nine each.
Bethania De La Cruz in her last match with Las Reinas del Caribe (Photo FIVB)
Brazil’s outside hitter and captain Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães led the team with a match-high 20 points (16 kills, three blocks, one ace). Outside hitter Ana Cristina contributed 14 points (10 kills, three aces, one block), and opposite Rosamaria Montibeller added another 11 (nine kills, two blocks).
The match against Brazil marked the last time 37-year-old outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz played for Las Reinas del Caribe. She first joined the team in 2004 and leaves with three Olympic appearances and several medals, including five NORCECA Championships.
“I’m really proud of us,” De La Cruz said. “We fought a lot to qualify for the Olympics and then to make it to the quarterfinals. Today, we did a very good job in the first set, but then we started making way too many errors and a team like Brazil will always punish you for that. It’s the end of my adventure with the national team and I can only be grateful for all that I have experienced in all these years. We have a new generation coming up and I’m excited to see what they can do.”
PARIS, France, August 6, 2024.- The United States are one step closer to succeeding in their defense of the Olympic title won three years ago in Tokyo as they advanced to the semifinals of the Paris 2024 Games on Tuesday with a straight-set victory over Poland and will compete in the medal rounds.
After benefiting from strong starts in the first two sets, the defending champions had to make a comeback in the third to produce a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-20) win at the South Paris Arena 1.
The Americans will now face Brazil, who earlier on Tuesday handled the Dominican Republic in three sets, in the semifinals, on Thursday, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT). The other matchup will have Türkiye, who eliminated China, and the winners of the last quarterfinal, reuniting Italy and Serbia, at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
Opposite Annie Drews was again an important piece in the American offense (Photo FIVB)
Americans and Brazilians have played each other in three of the last four Olympic gold medal matches, with the USA prevailing in the most recent one, in Tokyo, and the South Americans taking back-to-back titles in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
“What a great match this is going to be,” opposite Annie Drews said. “They’re a great program and have been playing beautiful volleyball. I am proud of what we’re building, and I know we’re going to bring our best to that fight. Pool A was such a dogfight, and it showed us anything can happen here. It helped us prepare to stay ready for anything. I feel that as the tournament kept going on, we just got better and better at not being too rattled.”
The USA also made it to the semifinals at the Rio 2016 Games, where they won bronze, which makes of this their fourth straight and eighth overall Olympic semifinal appearance.
The victory also earned the Americans 13.63 points in the FIVB World Ranking, which were enough to make them climb two spots, going from sixth to fourth with their new total of 361.09. On their way up, the USA overtook Poland, who exchanged places with them, now having 349.75, and China, who are fifth with 350.30.
Drews led the way in the American victory, tallying 13 points (12 kills, one block). With 12 points apiece, outside hitters Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer had productive performances against the Polish as well.
USA’s Haleigh Washington swings to beat the Polish block (Photo FIVB)
“We came here with really high hopes and expectations and we’re exceeding those, so I’m just really happy with everything,” Skinner commented. “We fought really hard in every match. Today we were behind in the third set and it’s hard to come back from a deficit, especially against such a good team like Poland. We just wanted to side out quickly and go in runs with the serve and I think we did that and that’s how we came back at the end.”
Poland had outside hitter Martyna Łukasic, with 12 points (nine kills, three blocks), and middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk, with 11 (five kills, four blocks, one ace), as their leading scorers in the quarterfinals.
“It was the first Olympics for our entire squad, so maybe we had way too many emotions on our side,” Korneluk said. “I think that because of that we couldn’t play at our best and they played very, very well and we couldn’t stop them. This were my first and might have been my last Olympics too, but I hope this team will continue to grow and get to play in Los Angeles in four years.”
The Americans had a wide margin over the Polish in kills (44 to 30) and doubled their production in aces, with six to three, besides having benefited from 15 points in errors and only given away ten. The Europeans had the edge in blocks, with 12 to ten.
PARIS, France, August 5, 2024.- Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson won the big eighthfinal clash with USA’s Kristen Nuss & Taryn Kloth on Monday afternoon and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 women’s beach volleyball tournament, where they will take on Spanish sensations Daniela Alvarez & Tania Moreno on Wednesday.
Fourth-seeded Melissa & Brandie delivered a hard-fought 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) upset of second-seeded Nuss & Kloth to knock one of the main medal candidates out of contention.
Melissa in attack (Photo FIVB)
In the first set, Nuss & Kloth broke away with a 14-9 lead before Melissa & Brandie went on a six-point streak to take control and eventually win by the narrowest of margins. In set two, the Canadians quickly broke away with a five-point lead at 8-3. The Americans fought back and finally caught up at 18-18, only to concede the next three points with Brandie killing the overpass for the 21-18 match winner. While Brandie impressed with her five kill blocks to finish with 17 points, Melissa shined from the serving line with four aces towards a match-high 19 points. Kloth led the American side with 15.
“It was tight at the end of the sets – that’s all I remember and that’s all that I truly expected at this point against that team,” Melissa said after the game. “They are a very strong team and whenever we have battles with them we go the distance. You can never count them out. They are going to get their points, we are going to get our points and it’s just about who is going to be the last one standing out there. I think we stuck really diligently on our defence, we kept the service pressure on them and did not give them too many breaks.”
Triumphant Melissa & Brandie (Photo FIVB)
“Every game is a big hurdle, but as long as you are here and you are playing, you are doing good,” Brandie added. “We are treating every game like a whole new tournament. We just did this one and now we are on to the next tournament. It’s going to be a long journey… We are extremely grateful and honoured to be representing our country, representing our game, our work and our team.”
In one of Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Melissa & Brandie will be challenged by Spain’s Alvarez & Moreno, who sensationally knocked out Dutch standouts Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon earlier on Monday.
“We had really been focusing on the game at hand and we’ve just found out who we are playing next,” Melissa told the FIVB. “So I currently have zero thoughts. I am still trying to process that win, but I think all the teams here in the quarterfinals of the Olympics are incredible and they have all earned the right to be here. I think at the end of the day, what we did in this game we will just do in the next game as we focus on our side.”
PARIS, France, August 5, 2024.- The United States came out on top in one of the biggest rivalry matches in international men’s volleyball, beating Brazil in straight sets on Monday, and advanced to the semifinals of the Paris 2024 Games.
Set to play Poland for a spot in the tournament’s gold medal match on Wednesday, the Americans split two close sets with the Brazilians before taking control of the match and progressing with a 3-1 (26-24, 28-30, 25-19, 25-19) victory at the South Paris Arena 1.
With the result, the USA are back in the Olympic semifinals after failing to break pool in Tokyo three years ago. This will be the seventh semifinal run in 13 appearances for the Americans, who returned home with medals in five of those occasions.
USA’s Matt Anderson tips the ball over two Brazilian blockers (Photo FIVB)
“We’re drained, because playing Brazil always takes everything out of you,” outside hitter TJ Defalco said. “I’m trying to take it as just another match because these are the quarterfinals and we didn’t win a medal or anything yet. Having a lot of options on our bench was huge, especially against a team like Brazil, because they have that too. We’ve been having more faith in our blocking and defense and that is key in the way we play.”
Brazil, on the other hand, will be out of the medal rounds in the Games for the first time since Sydney 2000 – their run of five consecutive semifinal appearances generated four medals.
Opposite Matt Anderson was the top American scorer in the match, producing 20 points (17 kills, three blocks), four more than outside hitter Defalco, who had 15 kills and one block. Middle blocker Max Holt, with 13 points, and outside hitter Aaron Russell, with 11, also got to double digits in scoring.
United States reach Semifinals (Photo FIVB)
“I’m happy about the way we fought after we kind of gave up that second set,” Hold commented. “We stayed very poised, came back and played like a new game. Everybody fought and we did what we needed to do. Our blocking was really great in the fourth set and all credit goes to our coaching staff as they made a ton of great calls against one of the best offensive teams in the world. Being able to slow them down like we did was huge. We’ve been on a growing path since the start of the summer, and I feel like we’re peaking at the right time.”
Opposite Alan Souza came off the bench during the second set to be Brazil’s top scorer in the match, adding 16 points (14 kills, two blocks) for the South Americans. Outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli came next, with 15 (12 kills, two blocks, one ace).
After the match, setter and captain Bruno Rezende indicated this was his farewell with his country’s national team, leaving with three Olympic medals (gold in Rio 2016, silver in Beijing 2008 and London 2012) and many other titles.
“This is definitely not how I wanted it to end, but I go in peace knowing that I gave everything I had while I was here,” the setter said. “It’s sad to end it like this, but we fought until the end and did all we could to win today. With all that I got to win and experience in almost 20 years with the national team, I definitely can’t complain about anything.”
The USA had more kills (66 to 56), blocks (eight to seven) and aces (four to three) than the Brazilians, while the teams gave up the same number of errors (26).
The men’s semifinals will take place on Wednesday, with Poland and the United States meeting first, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT), and France and Italy dueling in the second match, scheduled for 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
PARIS, France, August 4, 2024.- The third-seeded U.S. beach team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng had all they could handle from 12th-seeded Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti of Italy before coming away with a 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-12) win in the Paris Round of 16 on Sunday. Hughes/Cheng, the reigning world champions, will next face the Swiss team of Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, August 6.
“That’s such a good team,” Hughes said. “We knew it coming in so we knew we just had to play our best volleyball and maybe it wasn’t the best, but we just fought together and I think that’s so important. A win is a win and we are happy to bring it home.”
Cheng scored 21 points on 16 kills, two blocks and three aces. Hughes posted a double-double with 15 kills and 19 digs, many of the spectacular fashion, in a brilliantly played defensive match. Both teams finished with 31 kills and the U.S. held a slight 3-2 advantage in service aces. Italy led 6-2 in blocks, but committed 17 errors compared to just 12 from the U.S.
Hughes & Cheng celebrate advancing to Quarters (Photo FIVB)
A Cheng block on the first point of the match helped jumpstart the U.S. to a 3-0 lead, but Gottardi/Menegatti eventually evened the set at 7-7. After the teams traded off the next six points, Italy took its first lead of the set, 11-10, on a block.
Trailing 14-12, the U.S. tied the set on a Cheng kill on a second ball and a Hughes bump kill on the first ball tied the set. A continuation block by Cheng led to an Italy hitting error that put Hughes/Cheng back out in front, 16-15, at which point Gottardi/Menegatti used their timeout.
Italy scored the first two points out of the timeout to regain the lead. Trailing 17-16, Cheng tied the match and then gave the U.S. the lead again with a kill on a second ball after a great dig by Hughes. An Italy hitting error made it 19-17. After surrendering the next point, the U.S. scored the final two points of the set on a service error and a Hughes kill. Cheng scored seven points on six kills and her first point block, while Hughes added five kills and seven digs.
Sara Hughes celebrates scoring in round of 16 (Photo FIVB)
The third point of the second set exemplified the quality of play in the match with both teams scrambling and playing great defense before Cheng bumped over a second ball for the point. With the set tied at 8-8 with neither team having assumed a two-point lead, Italy used two blocks to spur a 5-0 run to take a 13-8 lead at the technical timeout.
The U.S. pulled back within two points, 15-13, after a Cheng ace and a Hughes kill off the block, forcing Italy to take its timeout. Hughes/Cheng had a chance to pull within a point, but their attack was dug and Gottardi/Menegatti scored that point and the next for an 18-14 lead.
Cheng scored on an overpass and recorded a block to cut the lead back to two points, 19-17, but Italy scored the final two points, the last on an ace, to send the match to a third set. Cheng scored seven points on five kills, a block and a set, and Hughes finished the set with six kills and six digs.
“This game is a game of momentum, so really fighting to stop them from having momentum and fighting to get it back,” Cheng said. “It’s about staying in the present and not letting those runs affect you and just fighting every point. Every point is a new point and you are not worrying about those last ones. That’s really important.”
Cheng scored on a second ball after Hughes dug a block attempt and then served two aces in a row for an early 4-1 U.S. lead in the deciding set. The U.S. continued its strong play after an Italy timeout when Hughes made an incredible dig, and Cheng bumped the ball over with her back to the net for the point. A Cheng kill on a second ball gave the U.S. an 8-3 lead.
Hughes kept her great defense going and sent a first ball over the net for a kill to give the U.S. its biggest lead of the match, 10-4. Another Italy block cut the deficit back to four points, 11-7, leading the U.S. to use its timeout. An incredible hustle play helped lead Italy to its fourth consecutive point to make it 11-9.
A Cheng kill down the line snapped the 4-0 run, but a service error cut the lead back to two. An ace pulled Italy within a point. Hughes looked to be in trouble on the following play but poked the ball to the backcourt for a 13-11 lead. Italy hit the next ball out and unsuccessfully challenged a block touch to set up the first U.S. match point. Italy scored the next point, but Cheng ended the match on a ball toward the sideline. Cheng scored seven points on five kills and the two key aces. Hughes scored three times and registered six digs.
PARIS, France, August 4, 2024.- The U.S. Women’s National Team clinched a berth in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics with a tight 3-0 (29-27, 29-27, 25-20) victory over France before a boisterous French crowd on Sunday. The U.S. finished pool play 2-1, while France did not take a set in its first Olympic appearance.
The quarterfinals will take place on Tuesday, August 6 with the seedings and pairings to be determined after pool play is completed Sunday.
Tennis great Billie Jean King attended the match and sent a video to the team beforehand.
“She was a supporter of ours in Rio and Tokyo,” U.S. Head Coach Karch Kiraly said. “She kind of watches us from afar. And this time it’s really cool this time because she is here.”
The U.S. led the match in kills (48-44) and service aces (5-3), but the key statistic was play in the middle where it held a 12-6 advantage in blocks, and its middle blockers totaled 17 kills with a .556 hitting efficiency percentage.
Middles Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington combined for 24 points and seven blocks. Ogbogu, who tied an Olympic record with eight blocks in a five-set win over Serbia and leads the Paris Olympics in blocks, hit at a .615 efficiency percentage (eight kills on 13 attacks) and recorded three more blocks to give her 15 through the end of pool play. Her two aces gave her 13 points for the match. Washington hit .500 while totaling 11 points on nine kills and two blocks.
Kiraly started first-time Olympians Kathryn Plummer and Avery Skinner at outside hitter, but later brought in veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook.
“We felt like we needed a little more ball control,” Kiraly said. “We were handling some jump-spin serves better once those two were in.”
Opposite Annie Drews led all players with 15 kills and led the team with 15 digs. Plummer was the fourth U.S. player to reach double digits with 11 points on six kills, three blocks and two aces.
Libero Justine Wong-Orantes recorded another double-double with 11 successful receptions and 10 digs. Skinner finished with four kills and nine successful receptions, while Plummer and Cook each added eight successful receptions.
Opposite Jordan Thompson scored four points on three kills and a block. Cook scored three points on two kills and a block, and setter Jordyn Poulter totaled three points on a kill, block and an ace, adding seven digs. Larson contributed three successful receptions, two digs and a block.
The U.S. took an early four-point lead, but France tied the set at 10-10 and 12-12 with blocks. A Plummer ace capped a 5-1 U.S. run that gave the U.S. a four-point advantage again, 17-13 and led to a France timeout. The Olympic hosts kept the set close by scoring three of the next four points to pull back within two points.
Ogbogu scored three of the next four points in the set with a block and a pair of kills to give the U.S. its largest lead of the set, 22-17, but France scored the next six points to take a 23-22 lead. Two Drews kills gave the U.S. its first set point. France fought off the set point and had a swing for the lead but hit the ball out.
France had its first set point at 27-26, but a Skinner kill and a great dig by Washington that led to a Drews kill gave the U.S. a 28-27 lead. A strong Washington serve that France struggled to get over the net led to a Skinner kill that gave the U.S. the win on its fourth set point. Drews led the team with seven kills and Ogbogu added five points on three kills, a block and an ace.
Plummer scored five early points in the second set on four kills and an ace to lead the U.S. to an 8-5 lead. Ogbogu and Plummer recorded back-to-back blocks to make it 11-8. After a France point, Ogbogu and Washington each scored out of the middle to help raise the lead to six points, 15-9. France continued to keep it close by scoring the next three points and forcing a U.S. timeout.
A Skinner kill in transition put the U.S. ahead 17-12. A Thompson kill off the block raised the lead to six, 20-14 but France scored the next seven points to take the lead. A Drews kill ended the run and a Larson block put the U.S. back ahead, 22-21. Another Ogbogu block made it 23-22. A Drews crosscourt kill gave the U.S. set point at 24-23.
A France attack was called out but reversed on a block touch challenge. A kill gave France its first set point before a Drews kill evened the set. A service ace put France back ahead 26-25 before Washington scored on a slide. A hitting error gave France its third set point, but Drews recorded her 12th kill of the match to tie it back up. A hitting error and an Ogbogu block gave the U.S. a 2-0 set lead. Plummer finished with seven points, Drews and Washington each registered five kills, and Ogbogu scored five points on two kills, two blocks and an ace.
A Washington kill on an overpass gave the U.S. an early three-point lead, 7-4, in the third set. A France ace and a kill on an overpass evened the set at 13. The U.S. responded with a 5-1 run, culminating with a Washington kill.
With the score 20-17, Ogbogu put a ball down to raise the lead to four. A great dig by Wong-Orantes led to a Drews kill off a set from Larson for a 22-17 lead. Three France errors down the stretch sealed the match for the U.S. Washington scored six points in the set on four kills and two blocks with Drews, Robinson-Cook, and Ogbogu each contributing three points.
PARIS, France, August 4, 2024.- The world’s number one team David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden advanced to the quarterfinals after putting a stop to Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo’s fantastic run at Paris 2024.
Top-seeded Ahman & Hellvig had to battle it out through a tough three-set duel with 16th-seeded Cubans Diaz & Alayo to celebrate a hard-earned 2-1 (21-11, 26-28, 15-11) victory and a spot among the quarterfinalists, while handing the opponents their first defeat of the tournament and putting an end to their inspiring Cinderella story.
After a one-sided first set, Diaz & Alayo put up an epic fight in the second, pushing it deep into overtime, inspired by the loud support they were getting from the packed stands, and prompting a tie-breaker.
The Swedish jump-setters regained control in the third set and although their opponents from the Caribbean never gave up, the favourites managed to emerge with the victory. After a spectacular dive by Ahman in defense, Hellvig put away the 15-11 match winner. Hellvig excelled with an impressive eight kill blocks and three aces towards a 28-point match high. Ahman added another 20 points towards the victory, while Alayo led the Cuban duo with 26 points.
Every night, the lights dim at the Eiffel Tower Stadium as France’s most iconic landmark lights the night sky
As the sun sets on the Eiffel Tower Stadium, the beach volleyball party ramps up a notch. Darkness envelopes the stadium. The lights dim. 13,000 mobile phone lights illuminate the stadium stands.
After the sun sets and the clock nears 10pm, the crowd hushes. They know the significance of this moment. A unique experience at the best stadium on earth that will be no more after the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 conclude in September – although it will live on in the memories of the hundreds of thousands of fans who have passed through the Stadium’s gates, alongside billions watching around the world.
Strobe lights flood the sand with the colours of the French Flag. Blue. White. Red. Music cuts through the silence, counting down to the Eiffel Tower’s grand reveal. Phone cameras light the way, like burning embers ready to strike a fire. Suddenly, the Iron Lady ignites, ablaze with an inferno of shimmering gold against the night sky.
The crowd erupts and the lights brighten, revealing the sand court and world-class athletes, ready for another battle in their Olympic quest for gold. From here the party continues – the height of athleticism, tactical knowhow, teamwork and determination plays out on the sand. One team vying for an edge. Meanwhile, 13,000 fans cheer them on, feet stomping as the stadium vibrates and hums with energy.
PARIS, France, August 3, 2024.- Canada’s men’s team concluded the group phase in a battle with Serbia, that ended in a 2-3 (25-16, 25-22, 24-26, 19-25, 16-18) loss for Canada and finishing 10th in the overall standings of the men’s Olympic tournament.
Canada led in attack points 65-58, blocking 8-4, while Serbia led in aces 10-7 and made fewer errors 29-35.
Canada’s Stephen Maar, who put 28 points on the board for his team, reflected: “It’s the highest-level tournament in the world, and all the pools were difficult. If you’re not playing great, you’re not winning. Sadly, I don’t think we played one great match all together and that hurts,” said Maar.
“I’m grateful that so many Canadians are watching us play and I received so many well wishes from people here and at home, and I would like to give a great big shoutout to all the families of the guys who have supported us through this journey.”
Post-match, head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo commented that the team came out stronger in this final game than in the previous two matches: “We played today, we came with a different approach to the game… we were fighting. It would have been nice to finish with a win, but we didn’t. The taste of the tournament now is different as we were able to come out and play (in this final match).
“It’s been a hell of a ride for these past two seasons, and I would really like to thank the players, staff members, Volleyball Canada and all the up-and-coming players and coaches who have contributed to this program. To be in three Olympics in a row is proof of something… at the same time, this tournament teaches us so much about being focused. We will have to analyze everything much deeper at another time with cooler heads.”
PARIS, France, August 3, 2024.- Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson won in the women’s sixteenthfinal match of the so-called “lucky-loser” round on Saturday evening and qualified for the eighthfinals of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament. USA’s Miles Evans & Chase Budinger was one of the men’s pairs that survived the first knockout round of the tournament and moved into the last 16.
Fourth-seeded Melissa & Brandie overcame the resistance of 22nd-seeded Barbora Hermannova & Marie-Sara Stochlova of Czechia and defeated them in a 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) straight-setter to snatch the last vacancy in the women’s eighthfinals. Melissa led the way with 20 points, including four aces.
The sixteenthfinal round started earlier with one of the men’s matches, but unfortunately it lasted only three rallies before Canada’s Samuel Schachter & Daniel Dearing withdrew because of Dearing’s injury against 23rd-seeded Grimalt & Grimalt of Chile who won by forfeit.
Budinger & Evans during their lucky-loser game (Photo FIVB)
“Obviously, we are frustrated. We want to be able to compete,” Sam Schachter commented. “It’s super disappointing that we weren’t able to get Dan’s back to a place where he can compete, but we really tried our hardest, including Dan and our entire team; we are grateful for their help; but that’s part of sport. Sometimes injuries happen… Obviously, horrific timing! It’s a nightmare for Dan and me. You know we wanted to be able to share that moment with our families and the crowd and get that Olympic spirit, but obviously, it didn’t happen today.”
In the last match of the day, 19th-seeded Miles Evans & Chase Budinger of the United States achieved a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory over 15th-seeded Thomas Hodges & Zachery Schubert of Australia and picked up the last ticket to the men’s eighthfinals. Budinger was the best scorer of the game. He raised four kill blocks and finished with a total of 17 points.
Two NORCECA teams will be competing among the first matches of the eightfinals scheduled on Sunday. In the men’s division 16th-seeded Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo face first-seeded Swedish David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig at 2:00pm local time. In women, third-seeded Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng of the United States go up against 12th-seeded Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti of Italy.
SPANISH TOWN, August 2, 2024.- Trinidad and Tobago teams played superbly to advance to both finals of the CAZOVA U19 Volleyball Championships on day seven. The men will tackle Barbados while the women will take on hosts Jamaica.
Trinidad and Tobago women had to fight for every point in their semifinal clash with Barbados, eventually prevailing 3-2 (21-25, 16 -25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-13). The Bajans were the first out of the blocks and looked unstoppable with a two-set lead.
Trinidad and Tobago proved quite resilient and dug deep to take the next two sets to level the score. Trinidad and Tobago rode the momentum in the deciding set to stretch out to an 8-2 lead and held on for the victory at 15-13.
Deon Hutchinson, coach of Trinidad and Tobago women: “We abandoned the rotation that we were using in the past. The kids are learning. They were not getting it right in the first two sets, but the last three sets were perfect. I am very confident going into the final.”
Trinidad and Tobago men, who have been gradually improving since the start of the tournament, put it all together to beat the U.S. Virgin Islands 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22).
Curtis Burkett, coach of Trinidad and Tobago: “This is a first-time experience for us. We have never been here before. We have always fallen in the earlier rounds, and we wanted to change that. I’m glad we put our best foot forward, so it really doesn’t matter who we play. We simply come to play.”
Jamaica women, who have improved vastly since losing the first game to Barbados on day one, outdid themselves and are now in the final. They beat the U.S. Virgin Islands by 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 25-15,23-25, 15-10). The epic encounter was surrounded by vociferous supporters. Each time the hosts won a set, USVI responded in kind until they were tied at two sets apiece. Jamaica found the fortitude and concentration at the end and took the fifth and deciding set.
Oneil Ebanks, coach of Jamaica women: “This is the best junior team Jamaica has ever assembled. We are beating some of these teams for the first time”.
Finally, Barbados men proved too strong for Jamaica, brushing them aside 3-0 (25-20,26-21,25-10).
PARIS, France, July 3, 2024.- The Caribbean beat the Netherlands in four sets and are guaranteed in the elimination rounds in Paris.
The Dominican Republic got their first victory in the women’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics at the perfect moment as their four-set triumph against the Netherlands on Saturday at the South Paris Arena 1 qualified them for the quarterfinals of the event, which will be held on Tuesday.
Las Reinas del Caribe (The Queens of the Caribbean, in Spanish) needed all three points to advance and were under extreme pressure after the Dutch won the first set but provided a powerful response to secure a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 28-26) victory and get the result they needed.
With three points, five sets won and seven lost, the Dominicans are in third place in Pool C and are confirmed as one of the two best third-placed sides, then advancing to the quarterfinals. Japan and the United States are the two candidates to claim the last spot in play.
Outside hitter Yonkaira Peña was the Dominican Republic’s top scorer in the match with 28 points (Photo FIVB)
“We knew this was the most important match for us in pool play and that it wasn’t going to be easy,” setter Niverka Marte reflected. “We talked before the match that we’d need everyone to win it and that’s what happened. We played as a team and it was great to see everybody performing well. We tried to keep our minds strong after losing the first two matches, but we wanted this victory very much. I’m confident in my team and let’s see what comes up next.”
Outside hitter Yonkaira Peña was huge for the Dominicans, leading the team on the court with 28 points (26 kills, two aces). Also contributing to their victory were middle blocker Jineiry Martinez, with 13 points (nine kills, three blocks, one ace), and her sister, outside hitter Brayelin Martinez, who registered nine. Liberto Brenda Castillo was also a defensive machine for the team, getting 26 digs.
Dominicans celebrate scoring against the Netherlands (Photo FIVB)
“The Netherlands are a good team and entering the court knowing we had to win to advance made the match even harder,” outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz, who came off the bench to produce seven points, commented. “We knew what we needed and fought until the end to get the win. They had some set points in the fourth set, but it only ends when it’s over, so we kept fighting and working for it. I was happy to help the team today playing in two different positions.”
Captain Nika Dalderoop (12 points), opposite Celeste Plak (12) middle blocker Indy Baijens (11) were the top Dutch players in their last match in Paris.
“Before the match we said this was our first final we play here today to even reach the quarterfinal,” opposite Elles Dambrink said. “Now it’s just really hard. We worked hard but we never got a grip on them. Their defense was amazing today and I congratulate them for getting into the quarterfinals but I hoped it would be us.”
The Dominicans relied on their strong offense to pull out the win as except for a nine-point difference for them in kills (59 to 50), the teams will almost event in the scoring stats, with the Caribbean leading in blocks (ten to nine) and opponent errors (26 to 25) and each side getting five aces.
PARIS, France, August 2, 2024.- The U.S. beach team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng defeated Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann of Germany, 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) in a matchup of undefeated teams to finish 3-0 in pool play on Friday. Both teams advanced to the Round of 16 of the Paris Olympics which begins on Sunday, August 4.
Cheng scored 20 points on 16 kills, a block and three aces, and Hughes totaled seven kills, an ace and seven digs. Müller/Tillman led in kills (25-23) and blocks (4-1), but the U.S. registered the only four service aces of the match. Hughes/Cheng made only seven errors, while benefiting from 14 errors by their opponents.
“That team is really really good and we knew we had to come in there and serve tough and battle and fight and that is exactly what we did,” Hughes said. “It was really fun to come out with a big win against a great team.”
Hughes/Cheng took the first three-point lead of the opening set, 11-8, but Müller/Tillman scored four of the next six points to close the gap to one point, 13-12. After a German service error, Hughes made a great dig and scored to extend the lead back to three, 15-12. A Hughes ace eventually made it 17-13 and Cheng closed out the set by scoring the team’s last points. Cheng finished the set with 10 points on nine kills and an ace with Hughes adding five points on four kills and an ace.
With the score 7-7 in the second set, back-to-back points gave Hughes/Cheng the lead for good. A block brought Müller/Tillman within a point, 12-11, but Cheng scored the next two points, one on a kill and the second on a block, to run the lead back to three.
The teams split the next 10 points before a Hughes kill down the line gave the U.S. its first match point at 20-16. The German duo fought off two match points before Cheng ended the match on a kill off the block. She recorded double digits in points again the second set with 10 points on seven kills, a block and two aces. Hughes contributed three kills.
Now on to the elimination stage, Cheng took a moment to reflect on the Olympic journey to this point with her partner.
“This has been so special to go into this with Sara and really fight to enjoy all the ups and downs,” Cheng said. “All the little things, and I think we have been doing that.”
PARIS, France, August 2, 2024.- Samuel Schachter and Daniel Dearing of Canada earned a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) shutout of 17th-seeded Austria’s Julian Horl and Alexander Horst on Friday to stay alive in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Schachter & Dearing finished Pool E in third place on a 1-2 win-loss record, while the winless Austrians were eliminated from further contention.
Schachter was the best scorer of the match with 15 points. Dan added 10 points to the win on a match-high of 4 blocks, 5 kills and one ace.
Schachter and Dearing with first Olympic Win stay alive in Paris (Photo FIVB)
On the other hand, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans of the United States dropped their final pool match to Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira of Spain 2-0 (21-18, 21-11) to finish third in Pool F.
With the win by Netherlands over France, Budinger and Evans avoided outright elimination.
With the format at the Paris Olympics, all the third-place finishers in pool play move on in some capacity. The top two third-place teams automatically advance to the Round of 16 as the 13 and 14 seed. The other four third-place finishers fall into the lucky loser category to determine who will fill out 15-16 seeds. Tiebreaker placement among third-place pool finishers is first determined by total match points, then set ratio if necessary, and then total point ratio if tiebreaking statistics are still necessary.
Both Schachter/Dearing and Budinger/Evans will have to wait until the conclusion of pool play on Saturday before their next match is officially determined.
PARIS, France, August 2, 2024.- The U.S. Men’s National Team earned a top three seed in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics and finished 3-0 to win Pool B with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19) win over Japan on Friday. By winning the third set, Japan clinched its first Olympic quarterfinal appearance since Barcelona in 1992.
With Japan taking the eighth spot and final spot, the quarterfinal field has been decided with seedings and matchups to be determined after the Poland-Italy pool play match tomorrow. The quarterfinals will take place on Monday, August 5.
“Huge turnaround from three years ago,” head coach John Speraw said about going undefeated in pool play. “Years ago Doug Beal (former USA Volleyball CEO and head coach of the 1984 Olympic Men’s Volleyball Team that won gold) told me this tournament has three different phases, one is pool play. Then the quarterfinal match by itself is phase two and then the third phase is can you get into a medal match. We’re feeling good about where we’re at right now.”
USA triple block stops Japan (Photo FIVB)
The U.S. held the advantage in nearly every statistical category, 56-47 in kills, 10-6 in blocks, and served three of the four aces in the match. Each team scored 24 points off opponent errors.
Middle blocker Taylor Averill continued his stellar play in his first Olympics with six blocks, equaling Japan’s team total, scoring on seven of his eight swings and adding an ace for 14 points. In three pool play matches, Averill has scored 18 times on 21 attacks. Fellow middle blocker Max Holt scored on seven of his eight attacks and also had an ace to finish with eight points. With 14 kills and one error in 16 attacks, the U.S. middles hit .813 for the match.
Led by setter Micah Christenson and strong passing, the U.S. hit at a .511 efficiency percentage for the match with 56 kills and nine errors in 92 attacks. Christenson shared team-high honors with outside hitter T.J. DeFalco. In addition to his strong defense, DeFalco led the team with 11 successful receptions and scored 14 points on 13 kills and a block.
“They were passing the ball really well,” Christenson said about his teammates. “Especially in that fourth set, it makes my job a lot easier. Japan put some different service pressure on us in that third set and I think our passing line did a great job of adjusting.”
Playing in his fourth Olympic Games, opposite Matt Anderson led the team in scoring with 16 points on 15 kills and an ace. Anderson and libero Erik Shoji each finished with five digs. Outside Aaron Russell also reached double digits with 12 points on 10 kills and two blocks. Anderson contributed with nine successful receptions, Russell had eight, and Shoji added five.
A Russell kill gave the U.S. an early 7-3 lead in the opening set. Japan closed the gap to two points, but a service ace followed by an Averill ace made it 14-10. With the score 15-12, a Russell swing was called out but was overruled on a block touch challenge to extend the lead back to four points, 16-12.
Opposite Matt Anderson celebrates an American point during the match (photo FIVB)
From there, the U.S. went on a 7-2 run to put the set out of reach with Anderson scoring twice, and Averill and DeFalco recording consecutive blocks. The U.S. hit at an astounding .650 efficiency percentage with 14 kills and just one error in 20 total attacks in the set. DeFalco led all scorers with six points on five kills on his block and Averill added four points on two kills, a block and an ace. Anderson and Russell each contributed three kills.
Three Averill blocks and a Holt ace helped the U.S. run out to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Japan’s first block of the match cut the lead to two points, 10-8 but the U.S. scored four of the next five points to take its largest lead of the set, 14-9. DeFalco scored twice, once off a set from Holt, Russell scored on a back row attack and Averill ended the run with a kill.
Russell recorded back-to-back blocks to push the U.S. advantage to five points, 17-12. After Japan cut the lead back to three, 18-15, a strong dig by DeFalco led to an Anderson kill. Holt scored the team’s next two points with his fifth kill in as many swings making it 21-16. The U.S. took a 2-0 set lead by scoring four of the final six points of the set.
Holt and Averill combined for nine points with Holt registering kills on all four of his swings and adding an ace. Averill added a kill to his three blocks. Russell contributed four points on two kills and a pair of blocks.
With only its second block of the match, Japan took the first two-point lead of the third set, 10-8, and later stretched its lead to three on a kill off an overpass, 11-8. A 7-3 run from there put Japan in control of the set. Anderson led the U.S. with six points on five kills and an ace with DeFalco adding four kills.
Another Averill block gave the U.S. a 9-7 lead in the fourth set, the first time either team led by two points. A Russell back row attack extended the advantage to three, 13-10, but Japan used a 5-2 run to even the set at 15.
The U.S. used a 4-0 run, keyed by two kills from DeFalco, to take a 19-15 lead. Averill recorded a kill and his sixth block of the match to extend the lead to five points, 21-16. Two service errors ended Japan’s chance at a comeback. Averill scored six points with four kills to go with his two aces. Anderson (five) and Russell (four) combined for nine kills in the set.
PARIS, France, August 1, 2024.- The U.S. beach team of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss rallied from one set down to finish 3-0 and finish first in Pool B with a 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-12) two-hour win over Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi of China on Thursday. Kloth/Nuss advanced directly to the Round of 16, which begins on Sunday, August 4.
Nuss scored 23 points on 21 kills and two blocks with Nuss, who made several key plays in the final moments of the match, totaling 16 points on 14 kills and a pair of aces. Kloth/Nuss made only seven errors in the three sets while the pair from China finished with 12 errors.
Xue/X. Y. Xia ran out to a 5-1 lead and never trailed by fewer than two points the rest of the set, scoring consecutive points at 7-5 and 11-8 to stretch the lead to five. A China ace and a U.S. hitting error led to a timeout with the U.S. trailing 16-9. Kloth/Nuss scored the next three points to shave the deficit to four points before a side switch but would get no closer. Kloth recorded six kills in the set.
A great dig by Nuss helped give the U.S. an early lead, 5-3, in the second set. Xue/X. Y. Xia evened the set but with the score 7-7, Nuss connected on a kill off the net and recorded her first ace to regain a two-point advantage. A Kloth kill extended the lead to three points, 11-8.
Nuss and Kloth advance to Round of 16
The teams exchanged points until a kill by Nuss stretched the margin to four, 15-11, and shortly thereafter, Kloth’s second block of the set made it 17-12. The Chinese duo staged a comeback by scoring the next three points before Nuss poked a shot into the back corner and recorded her second ace for a 19-15 lead. Nuss ended a long rally to give the U.S. its first set point of the match. A service error sent the match to a deciding set. Kloth scored nine points on seven kills and her two blocks with Nuss also recorded nine points on seven kills to go with her two aces.
Kloth registered her second kill of the third set to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead before a rain delay paused the match. After a lengthy delay that cleared out most of the fans other than NBA legend LeBron James, the teams returned to the court with neither team able to take a two-point lead until the U.S. used a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 lead. Nuss scored the final two points in the run, one on an angle shot after a great did and another on a shot down the line.
“They just kept giving us updates every 15-20 minutes,” Nuss said of the delay. “It was looking positive it was going to go through so we figured we would be playing and we were just working with our trainer to stay warm.”
Xue/X. Y. Xia came right back to score the next two points to draw within one point, 12-11 and looked like they may even the set with a serve that trickled over the net. Ness made a great play to keep the ball in play and made it 13-11 with a well-placed kill. Kloth pounded a ball down to give the U.S. match point. After a service error gave China life, Nuss ended the match with her fifth kill of the set. Kloth registered seven kills.
“I just thought back to practice when our coach is like you have to win these five points right now,” Kloth said. “It’s just kind of like at the end of practice, you’re dead tired and it’s no you are going to find a way, both of you two on your side, you’re going to earn five points, earn ten points.”
PARIS, France, august 1, 2024.- Miles Partain and Andy Benesh reach the Round of 16 with a three-set win over Brazil to finish second in Pool D, Cubans Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz earned the pool top spot with a perfect record beating Morocco on Thursday.
The youngest U.S. men’s beach team in Olympic history, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, advanced at the Paris Olympics with a 2-1 (21-17, 14-21, 15-8) win over George Wanderley and Andre Loyola of Brazil in gusty conditions.
Miles Partain and Andy Benesh of USA advance in Paris
The U.S. finished second in Pool D with a 2-1 record. George/Andre placed third with a 1-2 mark. The Round of 16 takes place on Sunday, August 4.
“They are one of the best teams in the world,” Benesh said. “I knew we needed to bring our game today the way we want to play. We were super aggressive, I thought Miles played great, and then our mentality was really solid going in and we held it throughout the match. We are super proud of how we came into that match, and we were able to persist with that win today.”
Both players scored 18 points with Partain, the youngest U.S. men’s Olympic beach player at age 22, totaling 15 kills, a block and a pair of aces that came in the deciding set. Benesh finished with 11 kills, four blocks (three in the final set) and three aces. Brazil committed 17 errors, while the U.S. made half of its 14 errors in the second set.
Miles Partain of USA ready to serve
“We are going to recover and then just trying to stay as positive as possible for the rest of the tournament,” Partain said. “Train as hard as we can. Keep doing scouting, watching film and playing to our strengths and enjoying it.”
Earlier, Cubans Jorge Diaz and Noslen Alayo finished first place in the pool with a perfect 3-0 mark and without losing a set after beating Morocco’s Abicha/Elgraoui 2-0 (21-14, 21-11).
Noslen Diaz was the leading scorer in the match with 20 points on 15 kills and five blocks. Jorge Alayo added 15points all on kills. Cuba committed 11 errors against 7 from Morocco.
PARIS, France, August 1, 2024.- The Dominican Republic fell to Türkiye 1-3 (25-21, 18-25, 22-25, 15-25) on Thursday and will play a decisive match against the Netherlands to move forward at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Dominican Republic dropped 0-2 in Pool C and the Netherlands with the same record but with one point will meet on Saturday at 9:00 local time to have a shot to advance to the quarterfinals and one or the two best third-place teams.
Brayelin Martinez battles over the net against Zehra Günes (TUR)
Against Türkiye, leading all scorers was opposite Melissa Vargas of Türkiye, who tallied an impressive 31 points (26 kills, three aces, two blocks). Middle blocker Eda Erdem, with 14, and outside hitters Ilkin Aydin. and Hande Baladin, with ten each, also provided some scoring punch to the Turkish offense.
The Dominicans, who couldn’t keep up the same level from the first set throughout the match, got 14 points (all in kills) from outside hitter Brayelin Martinez and another nine from her sister, middle blocker Jineiry Martinez.
“We got to face two very strong opponents (Italy and Türkiye) in our first matches here,” setter and captain Niverka Marte said. “We have the confidence that we can fight against teams of their caliber, but in both matches, we made too many errors and that’s just not possible at this level. Today we fought hard and had good moments, which makes us happy. Now we need to move forward and focus on the Netherlands. It’s going to be another difficult match as they’ve been playing very well, but we’ll prepare for it and try to limit our errors.”
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 31, 2024.- The semi-finalists in the CAZOVA U19 Boys and Girls Volleyball Championships have been decided after the playing of the Quarterfinals on Day 5.
In the first quarterfinal, the U.S. Virgin Islands men were too good for the Cayman Islands, beating them in three sets 25-14, 25-21, 25-21. USVI will now take on Group B winners, Trinidad and Tobago in the semis on Day 7, Friday, August 2.
The second quarterfinal saw Barbados men overpowering Aruba 3-0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-8). Barbados will tackle hosts Jamaica in the second semifinal.
In the lone women’s quarterfinal game played on day 5, Jamaica were too strong for Aruba and ran out easy 3-0 winners. The women’s semifinals will see Jamaica taking on USVI and Trinidad and Tobago going up against Barbados.
Coach of Barbados men’s team Curtis Burkett: ” We have to be happy, but the real work starts now. The semifinal is going to be a tough game against Jamaica. It’s going to be tough, but we are going to try to win it.”
Oneil Ebanks, coach of the Jamaica women’s team: “We were trying to make sure that the chemistry among the girls was on spot. When we came here to the first match we played, I don’t think the chemistry was that strong. However, we were still scoring points, we were also dropping points at crucial areas in our first game, and I think that cost us. We watched other teams play and made changes in training and there have been improvements. So, I am just hoping that good things come as we move on.”
PARIS, France, July 31, 2024.- Americans Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng won their second match in a row and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada dropped their record 1-1 on Wednesday at the Paris Olympics.
Hughes/Cheng won their second match in a row in straight sets with a 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) win over Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau of host France.
Hughes/Cheng complete pool play competition against the German team of Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann on Friday, August 2.
“It’s great being 2-0 in pool play so far,” Hughes said. “That France team played really really well. At some point we got behind, but we just looked at each other and said hey, we just have to take it one point at a time. We didn’t get flustered or anything, we just kept going for it.”
Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada
Cheng led all players with 20 points with match-highs of 16 kills and three blocks, adding an ace. Hughes finished with 11 points on 10 kills and an ace, and eight digs. Cheng added four digs.
“I think all those little things just connect us, unite us, keep us talking, keep us on the same page,” Cheng said. “I think they are so important for us and our team and it pays off every match, win or lose.”
Also on Wednesday, 16th seeded Esmee Bobner & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland achieved a 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 15-11) upset of fourth-seeded Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson to remain the only undefeated team in Pool D and progress to the eighthfinals.
Zoe led the way with 21 points, including two aces. Brandie also finished with 21, including four kill blocks and three aces. In the same pool earlier in the day, Latvia’s Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova, seeded ninth, achieved their first win at Paris 2024, a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) straight-setter against Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti & Michelle Valiente, with Tina leading the way with 22 points.
So, on Saturday, when the Latvians and the Canadians meet in the last Pool D, the winners will also gain a direct ticket to the last 16.
PARIS, France, July 31, 2024.- Led by an incredible blocking performance from Chiaka Ogbogu, the U.S. Women’s National Team earned a dramatic 3-2 (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 14-25. 17-15) victory over reigning world champion Serbia in the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
The U.S., which has earned three points in the standings by splitting two five-set matches and is likely to advance to the quarterfinals, can clinch that spot with a win over host France on Sunday, August 4.
Ogbogu recorded eight of the team’s 19 blocks in the match and totaled 14 points with six kills in her 11 attacks. The U.S. finished with five more blocks, while trailing in kills (63-56) and service aces (6-3). The U.S. benefited from 23 Serbian errors, most of which came in the first two sets.
American middle blockers Chiaka Ogbogu and Haleigh Washington combined for 24 points, including 12 blocks
“Good teams make good plays and it took Serbia a while to make some,” U.S. Head Coach Karch Kiraly said. “Then they really started pouring it on in the third and fourth sets. We can’t be surprised by that just like they can’t be surprised when we make a bunch of good plays.”
Serbia scored one more point in the match (102-101). The first two U.S. matches have been separated by one point. In the U.S. five-set loss to China on Monday, both teams scored 102 points.
Opposite Tijana Boškovic of Serbia scored 31 points on 27 kills, two blocks and two aces.
Libero Justine Wong-Orantes continued her sterling Olympic play with a double-double consisting of match-high 11 digs, including three crucial digs in the fifth set, and 10 successful receptions. Setter Jordyn Poulter ran the U.S. offense and also contributed eight digs. Outside hitter Kelsey Robinson-Cook added five digs, three as she steadied the defense in the fifth set.
Serbia’s Tijana Bošković and USA’s Kathryn Plummer compete at the net
Opposite Annie Drews led the team with 16 points on 15 kills and a block. Drews registered the team’s first two points in the deciding set and her kills gave the U.S. 15-14 and 16-15 leads. Outside hitter Avery Skinner totaled 13 points with 11 kills and two blocks.
Three more U.S. players reached double digits as opposite Jordan Thompson (10 kills and a huge block in the fifth set) and outside hitter Kathryn Plummer (nine kills and two blocks) each scored 11 points. Middle blocker Haleigh Washington also scored in double figures with 10 points on five kills, four blocks and an ace. Plummer totaled 16 successful receptions with Skinner adding 14.
“We knew this was going to be an intense match. Serbia is always a strong opponent. We knew they were going to push back, and they did,” Washington stated. “We just had to keep believing. It wasn’t a matter of changing this or adjusting that. It was just a matter of weathering the storm and repeating to ourselves, ‘Yes, we can. We have this.’”
When asked about rebounding after the tough five-set loss to China to open the Olympics, Washington shared, “One our mantras is being where our feet are. Yes, that loss was heartbreaking, but we took it as an opportunity to learn and get better. Yesterday was about recovery. Today was about Serbia and tonight will be about recovery. We just keep doing that one day at a time and being present.”
A Washington kill on an overpass gave the U.S. a 6-2 lead in the first set with Plummer scoring on a kill and a block in the opening points. Serbia stormed back with a 6-1 run to take the lead and still led 14-12 when Ogbogu took over the set. She registered three blocks to fuel a 10-0 run that gave the U.S. a 22-14 lead.
Ogbogu added a pair of kills to score five points in the set. Drews registered five kills, Plummer scored four points on three kills and her early block, and Washington added two kills and served an ace during the team’s dominant run.
Serbia made a series of hitting errors early in the second set, allowing the U.S. to take a 12-7 lead. At that point in the match, Serbia totaled 14 hitting errors, while the U.S. was hitting nearly .400 as a team. A 6-1 Serbia run evened the set at 13. With the score tied at 16, the U.S. ran off four points in a row with Skinner scoring from the back row and making a strong dig in middle back to set up a Drews kill during the 4-0 run.
Leading 21-18, the U.S. played a great defensive point that ended with a block by Washington. Micah Hancock, seeing her first action since entering the lineup in place of the injured Lauren Carlini, served an ace off the net, and Washington followed with her third block of the set. Thompson ended the set on a kill with the U.S. up 24-20. Washington led the U.S. team with five points, adding two kills to her blocks, Skinner recorded four kills, and Plummer added three.
USA wins 5 set thrillet to World Champs
The U.S. took an early 7-4 lead in the third set, but Serbia quickly evened the set at 9-9 and then scored six points in a row to take the lead for good. A great dig by Wong-Orantes led to a Thompson kill that pulled the U.S. within three points, 17-14, but a 6-1 run gave Serbia a decisive 23-15 lead. The U.S. scored the next five points, the final two on blocks by Ogbogu, but Serbia extended the match by scoring the final two points of the set. Skinner and Drews each delivered four kills in the set.
Serbia scored the first four points of the fourth set and by the time it led 10-4, the U.S. was forced to use both its timeouts. A Skinner kill followed by Ogbogu’s seventh block of the match brought the U.S. within two points, 11-9, but Serbia finished the set on a 13-5 run to continue the match. Thompson paced the U.S. with four kills.
A Thompson kill gave the U.S. an early 4-3 lead in the deciding set, but Serbia went on another of its runs, this one 5-1, to take an 8-4 lead into the side switch. Thompson scored again to close the gap to two points and Skinner and Thompson recorded back-to-blocks to even the score.
Serbia took what turned out to be its final lead of the match, 9-8, but once again Ogbogu came up with a block, her ninth of the match. Poulter followed with an ace and the U.S. took its first two-point lead of the set when Drews scored down the line on transition after a block touch slowed the Serbian attack.
A perfect pass from Robinson-Cook set up a Skinner kill to make it 12-9. Serbia took a timeout and the two-time world champions cut the lead back to one with two points, the second on a block. Ogbogu secured a kill that came off the net, prompting Serbia to challenge a net touch to no avail. Wong-Orantes came up with another great dig to set up a Plummer kill off the block and give the U.S. two match points.
Serbia delivered a kill on the next point and staved off a second match point with its 14th block. A perfect pass from Skinner led to a Drews kill. After Serbia stopped a third match point, Drews again put the U.S. within a point of victory. Wong-Orantes made a rally-saving dig on the final point, which ended on a Serbian hitting error. Drews finished the set with five kills, and Skinner and Thompson both scored three points on two kills and their set-changing blocks.
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 30, 2014.- The preliminary rounds of the CAZOVA Under 19 Boys and Girls Championships ended on day four with three games. These games were ultimately used to determine the matchups in the Quarterfinals which begin on day five, Wednesday, July 31.
In one of the more consequential women’s matches, perennial rivals Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, who both lost to Barbados, met in an exciting duel, won by Jamaica 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-15). The victors would meet the lower seed in the Quarterfinals.
Jamaica started like a house on fire and took the first set 25-18. The overall quality of the Jamaicans was fully tested. Mary Massias was a thorn in the sides of the visitors as she pummeled them with brilliant serves and powerful hitting, especially Bally from mid-court.
The second set brought the house down as both teams fought for supremacy. Jamaica led for most of the way until it became close at 23-21. Great service pushed the home side to a 25-22 set.
With Trinidad 2-0 down, their morale fell and Jamaica went on to close out a memorable 3-0 win at 25-15.
The two other games played on day four saw Barbados men beating Cayman Islands 3-0 (25-9, 25-19 25-19), and Curacao women downing Aruba 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-21).
On day five, Trinidad and Tobago will play Curacao, and Jamaica goes up against Aruba in the women’s quarterfinals. In the men’s Quarterfinals, the U.S. Virgin Islands meet Cayman Islands and Barbados plays Aruba.
PARIS, France, July 30, 2024.- Jorge Alayo and Noslen Díaz lead Pool D unbeaten, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh earned their first Olympic win and Miles Evans and Chase Budinger dropped to 1-1 at the Eiffel Tower stadium on Tuesday.
In Pool D, the first match of the day had Cubans Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz beating Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley 2-0 (21-13, 21-18).
Alayo digs against Brazil (Photo FIVB)
With the results, the Cubans lead the pool with four points and are guaranteed in the Round of 16 and will end pool-play on August 1 against Mohammed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui of Morocco.
Alayo scored a match-high of 6 blocks, 13 kills and one ace, totalizing 20 points. Diaz scored 15 points on 13 kills and two aces, in addition to a match-high of five digs.
Playing in nearly 115-degree heat on center court, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh of the United States outlasted Mohammed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui of Morocco, 2-0 (21-12, 28-26) to even their record at 1-1 in Pool D.
Evans and Budinger USA vs NED (photo FIVB)
Partain/Benesh will play their final pool match Thursday, August 1 against George Wanderley and Andre Loyola of Brazil.
Benesh posted match-highs of 16 kills and 20 points, adding a block and three of the four aces in the match. Partain scored 16 points on 15 kills and the other ace, adding a match-best nine digs.
In Pool F, after opening the Paris Olympics with a win yesterday, the U.S. beach team of Miles Evans and Chase Budinger dropped to 1-1 with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) loss to Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands. Boermans/de Groot moved to 2-0.
Partain and Benesh earn first win (Photo FIVB)
Evans/Budinger complete pool play on Friday, August 2 against Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira of Spain.
Budinger finished the match with 12 points on 11 kills and an ace. Evans totaled 11 points on10 kills and an ace. The U.S. made 14 errors compared to five for their opponents.
PARIS, France, July 30, 2024.- United States was taken to a fifth set before coming away with its second win 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 15-11) over Germany and Canada fell to France 0-3 (20-25, 21-25, 17-25) for its second loss in the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
With the five-set win, the U.S. received two points and leads Pool C with five points. Germany earned one point and now has three points. The U.S. concludes pool play on Friday, Aug. 2 against the world’s second-ranked team Japan.
Canada is winless and will face Serbia on Saturday for third place in Pool A.
The match between United States and Germany was nearly even statistically with the U.S. edging Germany in blocks (8-7) and trailing slightly in kills (59-56). The key statistical advantage was behind the serving line where the U.S. led 11-6 with three of those aces coming in the fifth set. Each team scored 27 points on opponent errors. The U.S. scored three more points, 102-99.
Canada vs France
Middle blockers Max Holt and Taylor Averill combined for 25 points and five blocks. Holt scored 13 points on nine kills, two blocks and two aces. Averill totaled 12 points on five kills, a team-high three blocks and a match-best four aces. His five kills came on seven attacks, giving him 11 kills on 13 attacks in his first two Olympic matches.
Three other U.S. players joined the middle blockers in double figures, led by outside hitter T.J. DeFalco, who totaled 18 points on 14 kills, two blocks, and two aces. Russell led the team with 15 kills and added an ace. Opposite Matt Anderson finished with 14 points on 11 kills, a block and two aces.
“It just felt like we needed a little something extra,” Holt said on his back-to-back aces in the fifth. “They were kind of punching us with their serve and I just felt like we needed a little something. I just happened to be that guy today. We have many weapons, and anybody can do it at any moment.”
USA wins in five sets against Germany
As for Canada, with the fans on the stands creating a fantastic ambience at the venue, the home team secured one of the top two spots in the final Pool A standings, together with Slovenia.
France led 40-29 in kills and 9-2 in serves. Canada had a slight 9-8 advantage in blocks. Both teams committed 19 unforced errors.
Ngapeth and opposite Jean Patry shared the top scorer honours of the match with 13 points each, while Brizard impressed with a total of six aces towards a total tally of seven points.
Two players – outside Stephen Maar and opposite Arthur Szwarc – led Canada with 12 points each.
“Volleyball-wise it wasn’t great for us. I don’t think we got anything going like we wanted and we definitely didn’t play how we wanted,” said the other Canadian outside Eric Loeppky. “France is a great team and if we want anything special, we are going to have to play a lot better. But the environment was great. It was really cool to play the home team. The fans were awesome. With all our friends and family here, that was really special, but the volleyball stuff just wasn’t great tonight. I hope we figure something out for this third game. All we want to do at this point is to just play well.”
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 29, 2024.- Hosts Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago men took big steps into the semifinals of the CAZOVA U19 Volleyball Championships when they won their games on day three.
Jamaica, after beating Aruba on day one, had to produce mightily against the U.S. Virgin Islands who were impressive in beating Aruba on day two. It was the USVI who started sharper and took the first set 25-23. However, led by a vociferous band of supporters, the hosts rallied to take the second set 25-22. Jamaica led the third set for most of the way until the visitors produced some booming serves to take the set 26-24 and go up 2-1. The fourth set was similar to the third as Jamaica surged ahead to a 22-18 lead. This time Jamaica did not falter and took the set 25-20 to level at 2-2. In the deciding fifth set, the hosts jumped out to a 13-9 lead and held their nerves to take the set 15-11 and a 3-2 victory. A semifinal spot awaits them.
Brielle Nestor ISV
In another super game, Trinidad and Tobago, after thumping the Cayman Islands on Monday, returned to fight off Barbados 3-1 to head to the semifinals. Trinidad and Tobago took the first set 25-22 but Barbados clawed their way back to make it 1-1 at 26-24. Trinidad and Tobago eked out a 26-24 third set and used the momentum to wrap up the game at 25-22 for a 3-1 scoreline.
John Stuart coach of Barbados. “Trinidad and Tobago played well and they deserve to win. They took control of the third set. The standard of the competition is very good. Augurs well for the game in the Caribbean.”
Victory for TTO
Barbados men’s coach Curtiss Burkett: ” After winning both games, we think the sky is the limit for this team. It was a short preparation to get here, but we saw determination and heart in our players and we can’t go wrong with that. We are ready for whatever comes our way now. It’s a relatively young team and for them to do this good, we are doing well.”
In the only women’s game played on day three, the USVI sailed into the semifinals unbeaten by dominating Curacao 3-0, 25-12, 25-10, and 25-12.
PARIS, France, July 29, 2024.- The U.S. Women’s National Team made a valiant comeback before dropping its Paris Olympics opener to China, 3-2 (25-20, 25-19, 17-25, 20-25, 15-13) on Monday. China received two points in pool play for the victory, while the U.S. earned one point for going five.
The U.S. entered the Olympic Games ranked fifth in the world, while China came in ranked sixth. The U.S. will face No. 9 Serbia on Wednesday (July 31).
The U.S. ended the match with a 74-68 advantage in kills and 6-1 in aces, while recording just one less block (12-11). China benefitted from 21 U.S. errors, while committing only 11. Each team scored 102 points.
“The statistics highlight how thin the margin is,” U.S. Head Coach Karch Kiraly said. “We have to take care of some of these little plays.
Haleigh Washington battling over the net (Photo FIVB)
“The makeable plays have to be made. We made a bunch. I want to give our team a huge amount of credit for fighting back. It’s not easy to come back from 0-2 against a really good China team.”
Kiraly singled out the play of libero Justine Wong-Orantes, who recorded a double-double with a match-high 17 digs and adding 12 successful receptions.
He also lauded setter Jordyn Poulter, who started all five sets after coming back this season from a severe knee injury. Lauren Carlini also helped with setting duties during double substitutions.
Opposite Annie Drews led all players with 26 kills and 29 points, adding three blocks, hitting at a .353 efficiency percentage.
“I think there’s a presence I can bring that inspires those around me if I’m not getting in my own way,” Drews said. “My focus this tournament is on how I can bring the emotional version of my best self out there and let the errors fly in the wind.”
Justine Wong-Orantes in action against China (Photo FIVB)
The U.S. Women call their players off the bench “Game Changers” and looked to Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer to change the match against China. The pair helped the U.S. win the third and fourth sets to force the tiebreaker.
Skinner scored 17 points on 15 kills and two aces, hitting .400, and led all players with 17 successful receptions. Plummer added 10 points on nine kills and an ace.
“They came in guns a blazing because they had nothing to lose,” middle blocker Haleigh Washington said. “I love that attitude. I love that energy. I think it’s a testament to the depth we have on this team.”
Washington and fellow middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu each reached double digits in scoring. Ogbogu totaled 13 points with nine kills and shared match-high honors with four blocks. Washington finished with 11 points on five kills, three blocks and a match-best three aces.
Outside Kelsey Robinson Cook recorded 15 successful receptions and three kills.
PARIS, France, July 29, 2024.-Facing the silver medalists from the Tokyo Games, the U.S. beach team of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss stayed unbeaten and Melissa Humana-Paredes alongside Brandie Wilkerson of Canada kick off with a win in the Paris Olympics
Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss stayed unbeaten with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia on Monday. Kloth/Nuss are now 2-0, while the Australian team fell to 1-1.
The world’s No. 2 ranked team, Kloth and Nuss will conclude pool play against Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi of China on Thursday.
Nuss registered a double-double with 14 points (12 kills, 2 aces) and 16 digs. Kloth joined Nuss with 12 kills and added four digs. The U.S. benefited from 13 Australian errors.
Nuss and Kloth are 2-0 in Paris
“I truly think it is trusting your training,” said Kloth. “Trusting each other and trusting your coach that he trained us and we really did work very hard and did very meticulous training to get here.”
“For us it’s obviously very pressure-filled moments,” said Nuss. “I think sometimes it’s one person needs to rely on the other person and vice versa and I think that’s really important in a team dynamic, so we are just going to keep trying to do that.”
Fourth-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada did not allow any surprises in Monday’s Pool D match against rising Paraguayan stars Giuliana Poletti & Michelle Valiente, seeded 21, and hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) shutout.
Brandie scored 16 points (12 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces), while Melissa scored 15 points (13 kills, 2 aces) and ended with 13 successful digs. Canada benefited from 11 opponent errors and gave away 7.
Melissa and Brandie will be back under the Eiffel Tower on July 31 against Swiss Esmée/Zoe.
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 28, 2024.- The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) men produced the most impressive performances on day two of the CAZOVA U19, with a 3-0 (25-20,25-22, 25-18) beating of Aruba.
USVI, who are one of the favorites based on today’s display, put on a clinic of power-hitting and serving, which got the audience humming. Most of their players were impressive in their execution, but right-side hitter Leon Rogers stood out. He caught the eye with cannonball serves and booming hits throughout. However, though the scoreline said Aruba failed to win a set, they too played very well, even with less than 24 hours of rest after the game against Jamaica.
USVI coach Issac Rafael: ” Aruba is a good team, they’re scrappy. They keep you on your toes, so we had to be really ready for every ball that was played. A lot of balls that we thought were gonna be dead, they picked up and they kept it going.
I am glad for the victory. We know that the guys are young and they’re getting better so I’m proud of them. We’re getting better.”
Bercy Phillipa, coach of Aruba:
“The game was good. The guys gave everything they had. I love how USVI play. It just hasn’t been our lucky week, let’s put it that way. But the guys gave all they could and we hope in the future to keep progressing volleyball to a higher level in the Caribbean.
In another men’s game, Trinidad and Tobago beat Cayman Islands 3-1, ( 25-18, 25-13, 26-24, 25-20).
PARIS, France. July 29, 2024.- Playing before a sold-out crowd on the hottest day of the Paris Olympics so far, the U.S. beach team of Miles Evans and Chase Budinger began their Olympic journey with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) win over Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat of host France.
The duo, which began partnering last year, comes right back tomorrow, July 30 to face Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands.
Evans, whose passing had his team in system on nearly every rally, totaled 13 kills, two blocks and six digs. Budinger, whose presence at the net set the tone early, finished with six kills, four blocks and three service aces.
“It felt good against a good opponent,” Budinger said. “They have kind of had our number the last few times in a row so because of that we knew that we had to come out strong because they had that leverage over us.”
Evans/Budinger started the match quickly, scoring the first three points and seven of the first nine with Budinger, the first person in history to appear in an NBA regular season game and in the Olympics in beach volleyball, repeatedly thwarting Krou/Gauthier-Rat at the net. Evans capped a 7-1 by pushing a second ball into the open court and giving the U.S. tandem a 17-7 lead.
The France team responded with five consecutive points to force the U.S. to take its timeout but could not get any closer. Evans scored the team’s last three points to finish the set with 10 points on eight kills and two blocks.
“We came out strong,” Evans said. “It looked like we were a little more composed than they were. I think our game plan really went our way and our coach, Chase and I executed that game plan in a great way. I thought we passed really well and just kind of handled a lot of the nerves.”
After surrendering three of the first four points in the second set, Evans/Budinger regained the lead for good by scoring five of the next six points to take a 6-4 lead. At that point in the match, the French team had recorded eight kills and eight errors trying to find a way around Budinger’s presence at the net. A 6-1 U.S. run culminating with a Budinger block made it 12-6.
Krou/Gauthier-Rat got as close as they would get at 13-9, but Evans/Budinger ended the match on an 8-2 run. Budinger scored the team’s final four points, including his fourth block and third ace of the match.
PARIS, France, July 28, 2024.- In their first Olympic match together, the U.S. beach team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, ranked No. 3 in the world, started rolling late in the first set and went on to defeat Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova of Czechia, 2-0 (21-16, 21-11) on Sunday.
The reigning world champions and former college national champions at USC, who came back together as a team in 2022, return to the beach against Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau of the host country, France, on Tuesday, July 30 at 3 p.m. local.
Cheng totaled 18 points on 15 kills, two blocks and an ace. Hughes registered 12 points with 10 kills and two blocks, in addition to 16 digs.
“I wouldn’t want to do be doing it with anyone else,” said Hughes. “That chemistry, that unity, that communication, we have that and so to play on the worlds largest stage together feels good.”
The opening set featured 13 ties and was still deadlocked at 15-15 when the U.S. duo finished the set by scoring six of the last seven points. Cheng produced a kill while on the run, ended a strong rally with a shot down the line and scored again on the second ball of a great dig by Hughes to give the U.S. the first three-point lead by either team, 18-15. A Cheng block made it 19-15 and after a Czechia point, Cheng scored back-to-back points to end the set.
“We tried to overcommunicate. It’s different in that stadium, the ball moves a little bit different so we’re just trying to be calm, patient, and just communicating with each other every step of the way,” said Cheng. “We were a little jittery at the beginning of the first, but we settled in.”
Strong play by Cheng at the net and a cut shot by Hughes forced the Czechia team to use its timeout early at 5-2 in the second set. After a hitting error made it 6-2, Czechia scored three consecutive points to come within a point but were never able to even the score.
With a 9-8 lead, Hughes/Cheng went on a decisive 6-1 run with Hughes scoring four points in that stretch and finishing the run with an ace. Just as they did in the opening set, Hughes/Cheng ended the second set on a 6-1 run. A block and ace by Cheng made it 18-10. The match ended on a Hughes kill after an exhaustive rally. Hughes scored nine points on seven kills and a pair of aces, and Cheng added eight points on six kills, a block and an ace.
PARIS, France, July 28, 2024.- Slovenia made history, securing a victory in their first-ever match at the Olympics. The Europeans were dominant from start to finish and topped Canada 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21) to end the day at the South Paris Arena 1.
The triumph placed them in first place in pool A with three points, one more than France and two above Serbia – Canada haven’t earned any points after their first match.
Opposite Tonček Štern, who left the court in the first few minutes injured and then returned, was Slovenia’s main scorer in the encounter, with 24 points. Outside hitters Klemen Čebulj and Tine Urnaut registered 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Canada got 17 points from outside hitter Eric Loeppky and another 14 from opposite Arthur Szwarc.
The men will have Monday off and will be back on the court on Tuesday. For NORCECA teams USA will face Germany at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT) in Pool C and France vs. Canada at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) in Pool A.
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 28, 2024.- Hosts Jamaica had to take a backseat to Barbados women as the CAZOVA U19 Volleyball Championships continued on Sunday. Barbados came from behind to win an absorbing game 3-1.
It was an even game in the first set as both teams committed too many errors, especially is their service game. Jamaica took the early initiative and held on to win the first set 25-23. The quality was better in the second set with Barbados taking the early lead. Jamaica fought back gallantly, however, and they were tied at 22. Barbados held their nerves and went on to level the score, 1-1, with 25-23. From then onwards, Barbados were superior with their service and hitting games, taking the games 25-17, 25-21 for a memorable victory.
Oneil Ebanks, coach of Jamaica girls: “It was a really tough game. We were tested in all areas. We played a very good first set, however, in the second set, I think we played in spurts. Our service reception was where we had a little issue so we have got to focus on that as we move on.”
Dale Addison, coach of Barbados girls: “So we did not get a chance to look at Jamaica play before. So we had to assess the game as we played. Their number 23 spikes the ball really well, so I told my girls we have to serve and we had to defend well. Once we did that we knew we would have a good game.”
In another women’s game, the USVI easily beat Aruba 3-0, posting scores of 25-9, 25-10 and 25-18.
PARIS, France, July 28, 2024.- Italy showed the strong game that took them to win gold at the Volleyball Nations League 2024 and to the top of the FIVB World Rankings in their debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics and had no trouble beating the Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-19, 24-26 25-21, 25-18) on Sunday, in the first match of the women’s volleyball tournament.
Playing in front of a packed South Paris Arena 1 in the morning session, the Europeans got a head start in Pool C, collecting all three points in their first match in the tournament while also adding to their new World Rankings total of 398.88 points. Ready to look for their first points at the Paris 2024 Games in their next match, the Dominicans dropped just 0.7 World Ranking points and continue in 11th place.
After scoring just four points in the first set, Italian star opposite Paola Egonu found her rhythm during the match and left the court as the match’s top scorer, with 25 points (21 kills, three aces, one block). Team captain Anna Danesi and outside hitter Myriam Sylla were also productive, with 11 and ten points, respectively.
Dominican opposite Gaila Gonzalez had an exciting scoring battle with Egonu and led her team with 21 points (20 kills, one block). Outside hitter Yonkaira Peña and middle blocker Jineiry Martinez also got to double digits with 12-point performances at the South Paris Arena 1.
“I thought that we played a good match, but we struggled to keep our rhythm and made way too many errors,” Gonzalez reacted. “This is something we’ll need to change to get the wins we need in the upcoming matches, even though we did a great job to win the second set coming from behind. But Italy are a very strong team, we managed to take a set from them and could have even pushed the match to the tie-breaker, so that gives us confidence and we hope to build from it.”
Dominican Republic celebrate a point against Italy (Photo FIVB)
The highest number of errors made by the Dominicans (38 to 18) proved too much as there was balance in the other scoring skills, with the Europeans leading in aces (five to three) and the Caribbean being more productive in blocks (13 to nine) and kills (50 to 47).
Displaying an efficient game at the net and making strong plays on defense, Italy took control of the first set, building an 8-5 lead with a big swing by Egonu. The Dominicans made a push, but the Italians were able to keep their rhythm and improved their advantage to 16-12 with a stop at the net. An ace by substitute Ekaterina Antropova sealed the 25-19 Italian victory in the set.
The second set had a similar start, with Italy in control, and an ace from captain Danesi got them a 5-2 early lead. A trickle ace by Brayelin Martinez leveled the score at 11 points, but Italy went on a three-point run to put things back where they were. In the final of the set, the Dominicans made a strong push, with Gonzalez scoring at an excellent rate, and counted on an offensive error by Egonu to take the set 26-24 and tie the match.
The Dominicans kept their good rhythm to start the third set and quickly got a two-point separation at 7-5. Italy found their best game and gained ground, taking control of the set at 15-13, with an ace by Egonu. Remaining ahead until the end, the Europeans triumphed 25-21 in the third set thanks to a powerful swing by their opposite.
Egonu continued on fire in the fourth set and served an ace to give Italy an early 6-2 lead. Another ace, this one from substitute Gaia Giovannini, increased their advantage to seven points at 10-3. The Dominicans kept fighting, but even subbing some starters off, Italy continued in control and confirmed their 25-18 win with a block by Sarah Fahr.
Following their debut, Dominicans will have four days until their next match in Paris as they will get back on the court on Thursday when they play Türkiye at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT).
PARIS, France, July 27, 2024.– With the lights of the Eiffel Tower sparkling and glowing in the background, the U.S. beach team of Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, ranked No. 2 in the world, won its Olympic debut, 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) over Canada’s Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec.
Kloth and Nuss will next face Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia on Monday, July 29 a las 10 p.m. local. Bansley and Bukovec will face earlier (11:00 a.m. local) against Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi of China.
“It was so magical,” Nuss said of playing at Eiffel Tower Stadium at sunset. “To walk into the venue and hear all the fans and hear everybody was spectacular. And then you got to see the spectacle of the light show.”
Eiffel Tower Beach Volleyball Stadium
Despite the theatrics, the pair stayed focused as Kloth and Nuss used a balanced scoring attack with Nuss totaling 15 points on 14 kills and an ace, and Kloth scoring 13 points on 10 kills and three blocks. Nuss finished with 17 digs.
Kloth and Nuss admitted to some nerves before the match but said their coach Drew Hamilton calmed them down.
“Our coach, at the beginning, really tried to calm us down,” Kloth said. “He made us realize that this really is the exact game we play every day in practice. We are doing the same thing, just in a very, very cool venue.”
Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (FIVB)
The U.S. duo scored the first four points in the match and later took a 7-2 lead on strong net play by Kloth that frustrated their opponents’ offense early in the match. Bansley/Bukovec mounted a rally later in the set with three points in a row to cut the lead to one point, 13-12, but a Nuss kill in the back corner thwarted the comeback. Nuss scored the set-winning point, her fourth kill of the opening set. Kloth finished the set with eight points on seven kills and a block.
Nuss reached double digits in kills with 10 in a second set that saw the U.S. jump out to a six-point lead, 11-5, as Nuss scored on a ball down the line. Her 11th kill of the match made it 14-11 and then the teams traded service errors. With the score 15-12, the U.S. finished the match on a 7-2 run. Nuss ended the match with a kill that went off the net and landed in bounds.
PARIS, France, July 27, 2024.- With Russell and Defalco on an excellent night, the Americans swept Argentina in front of over 10,000 fans.
The first day of the Paris 2024 Olympics volleyball tournament had an appropriate ending on Saturday, with packed stands at the South Paris Arena 1 and an elite-level match played in an electric atmosphere, which had the United States topping Argentina3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-16) to secure three important points in Pool C.
The result places the Americans at the top of the standings in the pool ahead of Germany (two) and Japan (one) at the conclusion of the first round of matches and gives them 10.46 FIVB World Ranking points that kept the team in sixth place – Argentina didn’t collect any points in the pool, but were also able to preserve their ninth place in the World Rankings despite the defeat.
With over 10,000 fans cheering on the stands, the Americans fed from their energy to produce a dominant performance and counted on productive nights by outside hitters Aaron Russell, who led the team with 16 points (13 kills, three aces), and TJ Defalco, who added another 14 (nine kills, four aces, one block), to beat the Argentineans for a third time in the last four encounters.
The South Paris Arena 1 welcomed massive crowds in all four matches of the opening day of the Games
“The atmosphere was amazing,” setter Micah Christenson said. “I can’t thank the fans enough for filling the stands tonight, we felt a lot of support on our side of the net, which was pretty spectacular. We never expect to get a 3-0 win in an Olympic match, but we’ll take it. We played great volleyball and showed a lot of our strengths as a team. These three points are really important, but the job is far from finished. We were entirely focused on Argentina and now we’ll look into Germany, who are also a very good team.”
Serving was at the core of the American strong performance as they outscored their opponents by eight points to zero in that skill, besides also dominating in blocks (six to three) and kills (38 to 33).
Middle blocker Agustin Loser, with eight points, and opposite Bruno Lima and outside hitter Facundo Conte, with seven each, were Argentina’s main scorers in the match.
“We had a tough match and the United States played very well,” Lima commented. “Their serving was really good, and their blocking and defense created a lot of problems to us. We managed to start all three sets well but couldn’t keep our rhythm until the end. We have two more matches and still have chances to qualify, so we’ll try our best against Japan and Germany. I’m sure nothing will be decided until the last day and we’ll be ready for the next battles.”
Defalco played a major role in the American offense
The score remained close during the first half of the opening set, with Conte leading the Argentinean offense and Defalco scoring at a high clip for the Americans. The first break happened when a pair of offensive errors by the South Americans gave their opponents a 16-12 lead. The USA managed to keep their edge until the end and won the set 25-20 after Russell scored with a powerful spike.
Argentina started the second set stronger and quickly created a 5-2 lead with a spike by Palonsky. Their advantage didn’t last long, though, as Russell leveled the score in nine points by tooling the opposing block and then scored four more, including three straight from the service line, to put the Americans ahead at 14-10. After remaining in control until the end, the Americans secured their 25-19 victory with another ace, this one from Defalco.
The third set started as the second ended – with Defalco firing an ace – and that set the tone for what was to come as after just a few minutes they already had a 5-2 lead. Their game continued to flow, and their advantage turned into a comfortable 15-7, which forced Argentina into a timeout. The break, however, didn’t alter the pace of the match and the Americans confirmed their opening-match victory with a 25-16 victory in the set, sealed with another Russell swing.
The two teams will continue their campaigns in Paris on different days as the Americans will now face Germany on Tuesday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), while the Argentineans will meet Japan one day later, also at 13:00 local time. Earlier on Saturday, the Germans topped the Japanese in five sets in the Paris 2024 men’s volleyball tournament opening match.
PARIS, France, July 27, 2024.- The Cuban hopefuls deliver a dream start to the Olympic Games. Before this season, Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo’s best results came on the continental NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour.
The young Cubans hardly ever appeared on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, and although they did make some headlines with the unexpected fourth place at the Itapema Challenge in April 2023 and even more so with their Pan American Games silver in October 2023, they were far from being considered one of the big teams internationally.
The qualification process for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games had long started but come March 2024 Diaz & Alayo were barely in the top 30 of the FIVB World Ranking and nowhere near the qualification zone in the provisional Olympic Ranking, some two thousand points below the closest team that eventually qualified through the ranking. Yet here they are at the Games in Paris, shining in Saturday’s tournament opener at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, showing confidence in front of the thousands of cheering spectators on the stands and mastering a straight-set 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory over USA’s leading pair, Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh.
Jorge Alayo in attack against Andy Benesh
“We trained hard in Cuba before the start of the season and then we gave everything on the court to achieve qualification,” was 21-year-old Diaz’s simple explanation.
But what happened in between?
In late March, in Recife, the Cuban pair had their second go at an Elite16 tournament and not only qualified for the main draw for the first time at that level, but pushed forward all the way to the final to stun the world with a silver medal. It was even more stunning that just a week later, at the Saquarema Challenge, they claimed another silver. After finishing fourth at their next Beach Pro Tour appearance, at the Guadalajara Challenge, Alayo & Diaz continued their fantastic season with a bronze at the Tepic Elite16.
In the meantime, they kept competing at the NORCECA Tour and medalled at every single one of the three continental events they took part in this year, clearly driven by the idea to collect enough points and qualify for Paris. And so they did. In early June, the Cuban hopefuls took another silver at the Stare Jablonki Challenge, at which point they jumped over the cut-off line for the Games in the World Ranking, eventually snatching the second-from-the-bottom qualification spot, some 540 points above the red line.
And if anyone had thought that it was a mission accomplished, and there was no way Alayo & Diaz could continue maintaining this great shape into the Olympics, they were proven wrong in the Paris 2024 opener. Match favourites Partain & Benesh started better and opened a 16-11 lead in the first set. At that point, however, the Cuban duo went on an eight-point run, with some great serving from Diaz and some monster blocking from Alayo, took control of the scoreboard, never looked back and won the game in straight sets. They both showed speed, power and efficiency in attack to help them tackle the tough opponents.
Partain & Benesh congratulate Noslen Diaz for the victory
“The preparation that we had from the beginning of the season was directed at keeping our physical power, mental strength and technical level through the end of the competition. But putting our hearts into the game is the most important part,” 23-year-old Alayo told FIVB after the game. “We are working point by point, game by game… We think through every step to keep the mind at ease and this is delivering good results for us so far. For me, my partner is everything! He is exceptional and I am very, very proud of what he always does and of the strength he goes into the court with.
“We started in Qatar at the Doha Elite16 in January and went on to the last Challenge event in Poland, where we secured the qualification. It wasn’t easy. We started ranked 33rd and finished ranked 17th, and here we are, winning our first game at the Olympics… It’s a big responsibility. It’s wonderful! It’s wonderful to play in this kind of setting, the biggest one I have ever played in. The fans are here and even in the rain the stadium is almost full, and that provides great extra motivation for us on the court. The first dream of every athlete is to be here, at the Olympics, and the second one is about being aware that you have given everything you’ve got to be satisfied with yourself.”
“We expected that there would be a great audience. It was pretty even between USA and Cuba. We came to the court to do our job and win the public’s hearts,” 2.07m-tall defender Diaz added.
Mighty Brazilians Andre Stein & George Wanderley, the current number three team in the FIVB World Ranking, are the next obstacle in Diaz & Alayo’s Olympic quest. They will hit the court on Tuesday, at 12:00 local time (10:00 UTC), and the Cubans are already looking forward to this challenge, while the Brazilians have yet to play their first-leg game in the pool against Morocco’s Mohammed Abicha & Zouheir Elgraoui later on Saturday.
“Now we are trying to keep our heads cold, analyze what happened today, and give everything we’ve got against Brazil,” 1.98m-tall blocker Alayo commented. “We always have good games against them since we first met at the Pan American Games.”
Indeed the two teams know each other well. They exchanged three-set victories at the Pan American Games, with George & Andre winning the second encounter in the gold medal match. Another three-setter with an epic tie-breaker against Diaz & Alayo gave the Brazilians the Saquarema Challenge gold in the final. Their next encounter in the Tepic Elite16 semifinals was also pushed to three sets and it was once again George & Andre who emerged victorious.
“Most importantly, we are going to enjoy every moment of the Games here, step by step, keeping in mind the effort we put in to get here,” concluded Diaz.
SPANISH TOWN, Jamaica, July 24, 2024.- After months of meticulous planning, not even the passing of powerful hurricane Beryl will stop the 2024 CAZOVA U19 Boys and Girls Volleyball Championships from getting underway at the GC Foster College in Spanish Town, Jamaica, this weekend.
The Opening Ceremony gets underway at 3:00 pm on Saturday, after which Trinidad and Tobago girls will tackle Barbados at 4:30 pm, followed by a boy’s encounter between hosts Jamaica and Aruba.
Beryl lashed parts of the island and threatened to derail plans for the tournament, but the steadfastness of the leaders and the participating teams prevailed.
Come Saturday afternoon, teams from seven countries, including the hosts, will have the opportunity to practice what has been preached to them by their diligent coaches over the years. There will be seven boys and seven girls teams serving for silverware.
Apart from striving to match their counterparts in the skills they have learned, participants will get the opportunity to experience Jamaica for nine days and meet new friends in the sport. These Championships will give the different teams a better appreciation of their quality with a view of constant improvement after the celebrations are over.
The winners will be crowned Caribbean Championships, and, importantly, they would have gotten a chance to match skills and wits with the best from the region. This is another step towards eventual professionalism.
The defending girls and boys champions are the US Virgin Islands and Suriname, respectively. The finals are scheduled for August 3.
Get ready for the sporting action starting on Saturday!
Olympic volleyball and beach volleyball action at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 starts on 27 July
Here is everything you need to know ahead of catching all the action
You will find all the information on the venues, the formulas, the teams and the schedules for the competitions
We are just days away from the start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, including some of the most exciting events of the year in both volleyball and beach volleyball. Action in both sports will get underway on Saturday, sparking volleyball fever among spectators and fans all over the world.
VOLLEYBALL
DATES
The volleyball matches at Paris 2024 will be held from 27 July to 11 August to determine the 16th Olympic volleyball champions in each gender.
VENUE
The competitions will be held at the well-known Pavilion 1 of the South Paris Arena.
FORMAT
The Olympic volleyball tournaments at Paris 2024 will be conducted under a new format. The 12 participating teams, representing all five continental confederations, per gender will be split into three single round-robin pools of four. The pool winners, the pool runners-up and the two best ranked third-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The competition will then progress in a single-elimination format with the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the medal matches. The Olympic champion in each gender will be determined after 26 matches, played within a period of 16 days.
On each competition day through the quarterfinal stage, four matches will be played starting at 09:00, 13:00, 17:00 and 21:00 local time. The men’s semifinals will be played on 7 August and the women’s semifinals will take place on 8 August, at 16:00 and 20:00 local time on each of the two days. The 9 August program includes a single match, the men’s bronze medal game at 16:00. The men’s final will start at 13:00 on 10 August, to be followed be the women’s third-place match at 17:15. In the conclusion of the volleyball events in Paris, the women’s Olympic gold medalist will be determined in the final on 11 August, starting at 13:00.
For the first time in the history of the Olympic volleyball competition, each team is entitled to include one alternate player who will be available for selection in case of illness or injury. This means that team rosters are increased from 12 to 13 athletes.
South Paris Arena – Volleyball
USEFUL LINKS:
Paris 2024 participating women’s and men’s volleyball teams
The beach volleyball battles at Paris 2024 will last from 27 July to 10 August.
VENUE
The competition will unfold at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Champ-de-Mars Park at the foot of the French capital’s most famous landmark. A temporary outdoor arena with an impressive capacity of more than 14,000 seats will provide an exceptional setting for participants and spectators alike. It will be the eighth time beach volleyball has been present at the Olympic Games.
FORMAT
The format for the beach volleyball tournament at Paris 2024 will remain the same as in Tokyo 2020. A total of 24 teams per gender from all five continental confederations will compete at the Olympic Games. They were split into six single round-robin pools of four for the first stage of the competition. The six pool winners, the six pool runners-up and the two best ranked third-placed teams will advance directly to the eighth finals. The remaining four third-placed teams will move on to a sixteenth final round, the so-called “lucky loser” playoffs, set to get the single-elimination-format stage underway. After the eighth final playoffs, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will eventually lead to the medal matches on the last competition days, 9 August for women and 10 August for men. The Olympic champions will be determined after a total of 108 matches in both genders, played within a period of 15 days.
The first competition day’s program on 27 July will offer a total of six matches. Six games are also included on the last day of the pool stage program, 3 August, but the first elimination matches of the sixteenth final round, will also be played that evening. On each day in between, 10 matches will be contested at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, split into three sessions – a morning session starting at 09:00 local time and featuring four consecutive games, an afternoon session starting at 15:00 and featuring three games, and an evening session starting at 20:00 and featuring three games.
USEFUL LINKS:
Paris 2024 participating women’s and men’s beach volleyball teams
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 21, 2024.- Canada´s team captain Jesse Elser won the Most Valuable Player award of the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup, one of the main figures in leading his team to win the gold medal.
Elser, who also won the Best Service award of the event, was one of his team’s top scorers in almost every game, scoring 78 points in the tournament, and in the gold medal match scoring 15 points against the United States. Other Canadians who also earned recognition were Jackson Howe as Second Best Blocker and Max Elgert as Best Setter.
All Star Team
Chilean Dusan Bonacic took the First Best Attacker award, while Colombia’s Daniel Aponza was chosen as First Best Blocker.
Cuban Víctor Andreu was recognized as Second Best Attacker and his teammate Carlos Santana was the Best Opposite.
Mason Briggs of the United States was the Best Receiver and his teammate Gabriel García was the Best Scorer.
Enger Mieses of the Dominican Republic was named Best Libero and Best Digger.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 21, 2024.- Canada defeated the United States 3-1 (26-24, 26-24, 26-28, 25-19), in the gold medal match retaining their title in the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that ended on Sunday at the “Ricardo Arias” National Volleyball Pavilion.
The United States had a better performance in attacks 54-50 and in serves 6-5, while the Canadians held advantage in blocks 11-7.
Isaac Heslinga with 16 points was the top scorer of Canada helped by team captain Jesse Elser with 15 and Jordan Canham who added 14. The United States had Gabriel García as their top scorer with 20 points, followed by Daniel Wetter with 11, while Cooper Robinson and Brett Wildman contributed 9 points each.
USA
Glenn Hoag, coach of Canada: I knew it was going to be a very difficult final against the United States, which is a very good team, my boys played very focused and were very disciplined in terms of blocking and defense and also, we limited their offense, so I am very happy that we return home with the trophy.
Andy Read, United States coach: We should have won one of the first two sets, but I have to give credit to the boys because we were able to win the third set and we had a chance in the fourth, my congratulations to Canada, they are a very professional and very tactical team, and they deserved the victory.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 21, 2024.- Puerto Rico defeated Cuba 3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 16-25, 25-22) to win the bronze medal in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup, an event that concluded on Sunday at the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
The Puerto Ricans dominated in attacks 44-42 and in blocks 14-12, while Cuba was better in serves 8-6.
Puerto Rico’s scoring was led by Klistan Lawrence with 22 points, followed by Pedro Molina with 15 and Omar Hoyos with 11. Cuba’s Carlos Santana stood out with 16 points, Víctor Flores with 15 and Alexis Wilson who contributed 13.
Klistan Lawrence PUR
Alberto Torres, coach of Puerto Rico: As I had said before, we were growing in the tournament, we were going from less to more, the improvement of the boys was noticeable, they believed and that was positive because they were playing against a Cuban team that is very strong and big, so we are very happy because this medal is very important for our program.
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: It was a game where we did not know how to read what the opponent was doing to us, we lost our aggressiveness at times, we only put it into practice in the set that was won, the rest of all the technical elements were below the appropriate levels to be able to achieve a victory, so congratulations to Puerto Rico and enjoy your medal.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 21, 2024.- Dominican Republic beat the Colombia 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 26-24) in straight sets to take fifth place of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that concluded this Sunday at the “Ricardo Arias” National Volleyball Pavilion.
The Dominican Republic was more dominant in attacks 46-34 and in serves 3-1, while Colombia was better in blocks 11-4.
With 20 points, Henry Tapia was the best scorer for the Dominicans, followed by Henry López with 11, while Luther Rosario and Héctor Cruz scored 9 each. For Colombia, Daniel Aponza finished with 13 points and Leandro Mejía added 8.
Henry Tapia DOM
José Gutiérrez, coach of the Dominican Republic: It was a match more mental than physical and technical, even the third set was more mental, I think that in that aspect we showed that we are strengthened, which we continue working and growing and that in the future in the next Cup we can be among the four finalists.
Carlos Osorio, coach of Colombia: An extremely important match for both teams, the advantage was for the team that made the least mistakes, we had some mistakes that we paid for in the final result of the match, fortunately in the end we were also able to move the team, young guys who are starting this process as adults and the truth is that they are happy in that aspect because they gave a good result in this competition knowing that they are young.
BELIZE CITY, Belize, July 20, 2024. – Nisaan Martínez, opposite hitter from Belize, was named the Most Valuable Player of the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship of AFECAVOL, which concluded at the Belize Civic Center.
Nisaan Martínez was a key player in Belize’s historic achievement of winning their first gold medal in an AFECAVOL event.
Also from Belize, Gareth Bruce and Ziane Henderson were recognized as the Best Spiker and Best Setter, respectively.
From Nicaragua, the event’s runners-up, Karen Bird was named the second Best Blocker, María Rivera the Best Opposite, and Dnixa Zeledon the Best Defense.
María Santacruz of Guatemala received the awards for second Best Spiker, Best Server, and Best Scorer. Also from Guatemala, Andrea Mendizábal was named the Best Blocker, Karen Del Cid the Best Libero, and Naomi Monney the Best Receiver.
Belize City, Belize, July 20, 2024. – Belize claimed the crown of the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship in perfect fashion by defeating Guatemala 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-18) in the event’s final match. They concluded the competition with four victories and no defeats, without losing a single set on their way to glory.
This is the first gold medal in Belize’s history in any AFECAVOL event. In the U21 category, Belize had only achieved a silver medal in the 2022 edition, held at home, where Guatemala won the title.
This time, Belize did not falter, imposing their superior blocking against Guatemala and effectively executing all their attacks to secure a solid victory that assured them their first title in this category.
Gareth Bruce BIZ
With the loss, Guatemala finished with a 2-2 record, placing them in third, while Nicaragua, with a 3-1 record, took second place.
For Belize, Nisaan Martínez was the best attacker with 18 points, 14 on attacks, three on blocks, and one from a serve.
For Guatemala, María Santa Cruz was the top scorer with 15 points, 12 on attacks, one block, and two from serves.
Belize led in points from attacks (36-27) and blocks (9-2), while Guatemala had a slight advantage in serves (6-5) but fell behind in unforced errors (25-18).
Regarding the victory, Belize coach José Fontes said: “This is our first gold medal. We finally achieved this long-desired medal for the people of Belize, and we did it undefeated. The athletes rose to the occasion. Winning a tournament undefeated is not easy”.
Guatemala coach William Fernández added: “Central American events are now very tough, with medals being contested until the very last moment. I can only congratulate Belize; their quality in this tournament was undeniable”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 20, 2024.- The Canadian National Team defeated its counterpart from Puerto Rico with a score of 3-1 (25-16,25-22, 23-25, 25-21) to advance to the Final and defend their title in the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that is being played at the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Canada was better in attacks 57-49, in blocks 12-2 and in serves 8-3.
Jackson Howe with 19 points was the most outstanding for Canada accompanied by Jordan Canham with 18, while Isaac Heslinga and Jesse Elser contributed 16 and 15 points respectively. Klistan Lawrence led the Puerto Ricans’ scoring with 17 points followed by Omar Hoyos and Pedro Molina with 8 points each.
Jackson Howe CAN
Glenn Hoag, coach of Canada: We are very happy with the victory, obviously Puerto Rico had a slow start but they played very well and I think in the last two sets there was a high level of volleyball on both sides so I am happy that we won the game.
Alberto Torres, coach of Puerto Rico: For me, Canada has been the best team in the tournament, the correlation of their service and blocking has been dominant in the tournament, at the beginning of the match it was a little difficult for us to play, I think we are emotionally tired but we recovered and competed, which was what we wanted and excited to have the opportunity to play for a medal, we came here for that and tomorrow we are going to fight for the bronze medal to be on the podium.
This Sunday the event concludes with the following matches:
Positions 5-6 Dominican Republic v Colombia 1:00 pm (local time)
Bronze Medal Cuba v Puerto Rico 3:00 pm (local time)
Gold Medal Canada v United States 5:00 pm (local time)
Belize City, Belize, July 20, 2024.- Nicaragua closed with a solid victory over Honduras, 3-0 (25-4, 25-12, 25-10), concluding their participation in the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship of AFECAVOL. They are now awaiting the result between Belize and Guatemala at the end of the day to determine the color of their medal.
Nicaragua’s record of 3-1 gives them a strong chance of securing second place in the tournament. However, they must wait for the result between Belize and Guatemala to finalize the standings. Meanwhile, Honduras ends with four defeats and no victories.
Honduras showed effort throughout the match but could not do much to trouble Nicaragua, who dominated in attack points (40-8), blocks (5-2), and serves (10-1), and made fewer unforced errors (15-20).
Samantha Vargas NCA
Norma Brenes was the best attacker for Nicaragua with 12 points, nine on attacks and three on serves. Francesca Medrano scored ten points, five on attacks, one on a block, and four on serves.
Victoria Aparicio was the top scorer for Honduras, collecting three points throughout the match.
Regarding the victory, Nicaragua’s coach Claudia Noguera stated: “I am happy with the result. The girls were focused and managed to impose their rhythm. We just have to wait for the result of the match between Belize and Guatemala, but any medal is positive regardless of its color”.
Honduras’s coach Cristiam Rodríguez commented: “I am very proud of all the girls for taking on this challenge and not turning their backs on the team. Our team is mostly of U17 players, with only two U21 players. It is very enriching for them to have been on the court against such strong teams.”
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 20, 2024.- In a battle that extended to a maximum of five sets, the United States managed to defeat Cuba in their Semifinal match with a score of 3-2 (25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11) to place themselves in the Final of the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup at the “Ricardo Arias” National Volleyball Pavilion.
Cuba was better in attacks 59-57, while both teams were equal in blocks 11-11 and in serves 5-5.
For the United States, Gabriel García scored 25 points, followed by Daniel Wetter with 14 and Ethan Champlin with 13. For Cuba, Bryan Camino scored 18 points, while Carlos Santana and Victor Andreu added 17 and 13 respectively.
Gabriel Garcia USA
Andy Read, coach of the United States: Two well-coached teams, that play as hard as they can, Cuba won the second and fourth sets but in the fifth the boys responded and we were fortunate to get the victory at the end, I am very proud from them.
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: They are two groups that give themselves until the end, nobody gives anything away, nobody gives up, the two teams fought until the fifth set as could be seen with ups and downs, that’s what happens at this level of competition, we managed to improve our performance in the fourth set but in the fifth the United States did things better and got the better of it.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 20, 2024.- Chile beat Mexico in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-18) to claim seventh place in this XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup that It took place in the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
The Chileans were superior in attacks 44-40 and in blocks 5-3, while Mexico dominated in serves 3-2.
Vicente Parraguirre led Chile’s offense with 17 points, while Dusan Bonacic and Vicente Ibarra contributed 13 and 12 points respectively. For Mexico, the best offensive player was Victor Parra with 10 points followed by Mauro Fuentes and Franky Milantony who scored 9 each.
Vicente Parraguirre CHI
Daniel Nejamkin, coach of Chile: Well, we clearly played the best game of the entire tournament, we said goodbye with a victory which was what we wanted, and now we have to continue adding points for the ranking.
Carlos Schwanke, coach of Mexico: Many congratulations to Chile, they played a tremendous game, we made many mistakes, there were moments when we had to calm down a little and we didn’t and that was the cause of this defeat, but that is part of the game.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 20, 2024.- The Peruvian team defeated Guatemala this Saturday 3-1 (25-19, 25-15, 20-25, 25-23) in the match that defined the 9th and 10th positions of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup at the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion.
The Peruvians were better in attacks 49-47, in blocks 9-6 and in serves 4-3.
Sebatián Blanco was the most offensive for Peru with 25 points followed by Francis Mendoza with 12, while Santiago La Jara and Daniel Porras added 8 each. For Guatemala, José Pérez and Carlos López added 8 points respectively.
Sebastian Blanco PER
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, coach of Peru: Very happy with the victory, we had not played for a year and we had not played with Guatemala since 2018 until we met in the preliminary round of this tournament, so satisfied with the work the boys did and by the position reached.
Reider Mora, coach of Guatemala: I congratulate the Peruvian team, they knew how to handle the entire match very well, although we were able to win the third set, they were the ones who always had the difference in the game.
Belize City, Belize, July 19, 2024.- With a solid 3-0 victory (25-11, 25-14, 25-14) over El Salvador, Belize remains an unbeaten record at the 20th AFECAVOL Central American U21 Women’s Championship and is now on the verge of winning the title with one match remaining in the event.
Belize has a record of three wins and no losses and will conclude the tournament on Saturday against Guatemala, a match that will determine the event’s champion. Meanwhile, El Salvador finished their participation with a record of 1-3.
Belize
Gareth Bruce and Nisaan Martínez led Belize’s offense, both scoring 17 points. Bruce scored 10 points on serves and seven on attacks, while Martínez had 14 on attacks and three on blocks.
For El Salvador, María Ramírez was the best attacker with eight points, five from attacks and three from serves.
Belize dominated the entire match, collectively scoring 41 points from attacks compared to their opponent’s 14. They also led in serves 13-6 and blocks 3-0 but conceded more points on unforced errors, 19-18.
Looking ahead to the final match, Belize’s coach, José Fontes, stated: “We have a crucial match against Guatemala. We are not celebrating anything yet, as we know that match is crucial for both teams. Regarding the match against El Salvador, I am satisfied with the offensive part but not with the defensive part, as I feel we made many mistakes”.
On the other hand, El Salvador’s coach, Karen Orellana, commented: “We knew Belize is not an easy team, but I think we achieved about 50 percent of the goals we had set for this match. Overall, I am happy with the work the girls have done in this tournament.”
Belize City, Belize, July 19, 2024.- Guatemala earned a comfortable victory over Honduras 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-13), keeping them in the running for medals in the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship.
With one match remaining, Guatemala has secured their place on the podium with a record of 2-1 in wins and losses. Their upcoming match against Belize will determine the color of their medal.
Guatemala played at their own pace and had little difficulties defeating Honduras, which suffered its third loss of the competition.
Guatemala
María Santa Cruz was the top scorer for Guatemala with 11 points, eight on attacks and three on serves. Her teammate, Dulce Trigueño, also performed notably with nine points, five on attacks and four on serves.
For Honduras, Victoria Aparicio was the best with four points from attacks, while Ivanna Almendarez scored three points.
Guatemala completely dominated all aspects of the match with 30 points in attacks compared to 15 from Honduras, serves 16-1, and blocks 2-0. They also committed fewer unforced errors, 19 against 27 from Honduras.
Regarding the victory, Guatemala’s captain María Santa Cruz stated: “We are still in the fight for medals. After this match, we all feel more united. Now we must give our all in our match against Belize. After the defeat against Nicaragua, we had to rebuild and see what we needed to fix”.
Meanwhile, Honduras’ captain Mónica Vásquez commented: “We had ups and downs in the match. In the midst of everything, we did well according to our capabilities. For us, this event is a very good experience ahead of the U17 Central American Championship. We are all very aware that the plays in which we failed are ones we can execute. We have to learn from our mistakes”.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, 10 de julio de 2024.- Manaia Ogbechie of the United States was named the Most Valuable Player MVP of the 2024 Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship that ended on Friday at Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie helped the United States to win their ninth gold medal in the history of the tournament, defeating Canada in four sets.
All star Team
Also from the USA, Audrey Flanagan received the awards for Best Spiker, Best Receiver and Best Server, while Genevieve Harris was Best Setter.
Naomi Cruz of Mexico took the awards for second Best Spiker and Best Scorer.
Dominicans Carolina Rodriguez and Julia Arias were granted first Best Blocker and Best Opposite awards respectively.
Jimena Alfaro of Costa Rica was the Best Libero and Best Digger.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 19, 2024.- United States won the title 2024 Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship after beating Canada 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 26-24, 25-14) in the gold medal match on Friday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
United States finished the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record, earning their ninth NORCECA title in this category. Canada concluded with a 4-2 record and won their second silver medal in the history of the event, the first was in the previous edition in 2018, also held in Honduras.
Canada 2do place
The strong serves (17-1) of USA helped them overcome Canada, who served the U.S. their first set loss in the tournament. The Americans also held advantage in kills (53-42) but gave away 28 points on errors compared to Canada’s 18. The Canadians had a slight edge in blocks (9-8).
United States outside hitter Audrey Flanagan led all scorers in the match with 18 points (14 kills, one block, 3 aces). Middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie contributed 16 points (11 kills, 3 blocks, 2 aces). Outside hitter Henley Anderson added 14 points (9 kills, one block, and a match-high of 4 aces). The fourth player in double digits was middle blocker Elena Hoecke with 11 points.
For Canada, middle blocker Carmen Waye led with 16 points (12 attacks, a match-high of 4 blocks). Outside hitter Sol Henson scored 12 attacking points.
Podium
Elena Hoecke and Henley Anderson led USA to win the first set, where they also scored 5 aces. The Canadians capitalized on consecutive errors by the Americans, and with the offense of Sol Henson and Carmen Waye, reached a comfortable five-point lead (15-10) and then tied the match 1-1, ending the Americans’ unbeaten streak in sets. In the third set, the U.S. started strong, jumping to a 13-4 lead, but the Canadians responded by tying the score at 22 points. Both teams had a chance to win the set, but it was Audrey Flanagan who scored the set point for the United States. The Americans dominated the fourth set, scoring 4 aces, and winning the gold medal with a commanding 25-14.
Jamie Morrison, head coach of United States: “Canada played a great match, they got better every single match they played, they continued to step up their game and that program is going to continue to get better. On our side I am proud of the girls for getting a gold medal in their first international competition, that’s an amazing thing and I’m glad they got this experience”.
Avaya Maga, captain of Canada: “It was an exciting match. I am so proud of our group for how hard we fought, we competed very hard and kept it very close. Overall, I am so proud of how we represented our country and battled”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 19, 2024.- United States advanced this Friday to the Semifinals of the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup, an event that takes place in the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion, beating the Dominican Republic in straight sets 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-20).
The Americans were dominant in attacks 45-33, in blocks 6-1 and in serves 3-1.
USA’s attack was led by Gabriel García with 12 points helped by Ethan Champlin and Cooper Robinson who contributed with 10 points each. Dominican Republic had Henry Tapia as the top scorer with 16 points, followed by Héctor Cruz with 9 and Rafael Burgos with 4.
Gabriel Garcia USA
Gabriel García, player from the United States: We knew that the Dominican Republic was going to play a good game, thank God we were able to do it a little better than them, we were able to put a little more pressure and power on their strongest players, we had many ups and downs during the match but in general I think it was a good game for our team to qualify for the Semifinals.
Héctor Cruz, player from the Dominican Republic: We lost today’s game but that helps us keep the team more focused, we will go on working because more competitions are coming, and we have to maintain the pace of the game and in this tournament try to do the best we can in the games we have left.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 19, 2024.- Puerto Rico won the Bronze Medal at the 2024 Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship by defeating Mexico 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-23) on Friday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
This is the fourth bronze medal for Puerto Rico in the history of the event (2002, 2006, 2010).
Puerto Rico outperformed Mexico in attacks (40-34), blocks (12-10), and had a slight edge in serves (3-2). Puerto Rico conceded one less point than Mexico (19-20) on unforced errors.
Pamela Agosto PUR
Outside hitter Pamela Agosto led Puerto Rico with 15 points (13 attacks, 2 blocks), followed by middle blocker Alana Guibert with 11 points (8 attacks, 3 blocks) and outside hitter Cherisse Atilano with 10 points (9 attacks, one ace).
Outside hitter Naomi Cruz led Mexico with 13 points (10 attacks, 3 blocks). Angélica Torres added 9 points and Aylin Ravell 8.
The powerful attack of Pamela Agosto, along with Alana Guibert, helped Puerto Rico secure the first set, in addition to their targeted serves that complicated Mexico’s reception. Opposite hitter Aylin Ravell and middle blocker Aitan Rettke pushed Mexico with their blocks to tie the score at 12, but from there, Puerto Rico jumped to a comfortable lead (16-12) thanks to Angélica Reyes’ serving and Guibert’s play at the net. Although Mexico recovered from a five-point deficit (18-23) and denied Puerto Rico two set points (21-24) with Angelica Torres at the serving line, Pamela Agosto closed the set for a 2-0 lead. The teams were tied several times in the third set; tied at 23, Puerto Rico reached set point on a Mexican error, and Agosto sealed the victory with a block over Mexico’s leading scorer Alejandra Cruz.
Daniela Gonzalez PUR
Alana Guibert, captain of Puerto Rico: “It was difficult for us to start each of the three sets. I think the fatigue and emotions drained us all. In the end, we were able to overcome Mexico and win the bronze medal. I believe we are a team that unfortunately works under pressure; it pushes and motivates us.”
Isabella Ocampo, captain of Mexico: “We played well, we stayed united. There were moments when we lowered our intensity, but we always supported each other.”
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 19, 2024.- Puerto Rico defeated Colombia in their Quarterfinal match 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-20) to place themselves in the Semifinals of the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup at the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Puerto Rico dominated in attacks 38-32, in blocks 7-6 and in serves 8-4.
Klistan Lawrence was the top scorer for the Puerto Ricans with 17 points, followed by Jonathan Rodríguez with 11 and Kevin López who added 7. For Colombia Andrés Piza scored 11 points and Daniel Aponza added another 9.
Jonatha Rodriguez PUR
Klistan Lawrence, player from Puerto Rico: It was a very important match for us because a place in the Semifinals was at stake and it was against Colombia a team with a high level of competition. At first it was difficult for us to pick up the pace due to the pressure we had but in the following sets we managed to get together and obtain the victory.
Andrés Piza, player from Colombia: I think that the result of today’s game was not as we expected, as we would have wanted, Puerto Rico showed itself to be a more fluid and much more solid team today, but now we raise our head, I think the team is doing things very well and now we must finish the event properly.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 19, 2024.- Mexico beat Peru with in straight sets 3-0 (25-15, 27-25, 25-20) in the qualification match for positions 7-10, in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup.
Mexico prevailed in attacks 39-32, in blocks 12-4 and in serves 2-1.
Mexico’s scoring was led by Franky Milantony with 15 points, accompanied by Mauro Fuentes and Yasutaka Sanay with 12 and 10 pints respectively. For Peru, the most outstanding player was Francis Mendoza with 17 points, followed by Daniel Porras with 8 and Sebastián Blanco who added 7.
Franky Hernandez MEX
Franky Milantony, player from Mexico: The truth is it was a difficult match because since we are playing the loser’s round, we are emotionally defeated so in this match whoever had the best spirit was going to come out with the best part and thank God we won.
Francis Mendoza, player from Peru: We were greatly affected by the injury of captain Eduardo Romay, Mexico is a great team, they have been playing together for a long time, they go on tours and play different tournaments, unlike us, we only play in the National League, we train for two months and travel; but that is what we have and it has cost us a lot but we are still here.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 19, 2024.- Dominican Republic took fifth place at the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship with a solid 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-13) victory over Costa Rica on Friday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Dominican Republic finished the event with four wins and two losses, while Costa Rica had two wins and four losses. In pool-play, Dominican Republic also defeated the Central Americans in straight sets.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic dominated every skill of the game, with a 43-12 advantage in attacks, 8-3 in blocks, and 9-4 in serves. The Dominicans made fewer errors (15-21).
The Dominicans offense was led by opposite hitter Julie Arias with 19 points on 16 attacks and 3 blocks. Middle blocker Caroline Rodríguez contributed 10 points on 6 attacks and a match-high of 4 blocks. Outside hitter Ambar Hernández added 9 points.
María del Sol Venegas and Nadia Granados each scored 4 points for Costa Rica.
Maria Venegas CRC
Alexandre Ceccato, head coach of the Dominican Republic: “We improved a bit compared to how we started because it’s difficult to begin a tournament without friendly matches. It wasn’t the position we wanted, but we were surpassed by the teams that will finish in third and fourth place”.
Edivaldo Bonilla, head coach of Costa Rica: “Instead of focusing on the objectives and the game, the players lacked intensity. Dominican Republic was a very tactical team today, unlike in the previous match against them. It’s a lesson because the approach to each match must be different. We need to work on teaching them how to play these matches”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 19, 2024.- In Friday’s first match, Chile easily defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25- 22), in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup that is being played in the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion.
In blocks, both teams tied at 7, while Chile dominated in attacks 40-37 and in serves 6-3.
With 15 points, Dusan Bonacic was the best in Chile’s offense, followed by Vicente Ibarra and Gabriel Araya with 10 points each. For Guatemala, José Pérez finished with 15 points and Jason Hernández added another 13.
Dusan Bonacic CHI
Daniel Nejamkin, coach of Chile: As I had already said, this is the second tournament we have played this year and we knew the level of quality that this event has, the boys have played well, and they have been getting into the rhythm of play and today against Guatemala we managed to win in three sets.
Reider Mora, coach of Guatemala: We knew that we were going against a Chilean team with a good level of play, and we knew that it was a very difficult opponent, but the boys made the effort and without a doubt in this tournament they were able to face very good teams which is positive for them in terms of the learning experience.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 19, 2024.- Cuba defeated the hosts Honduras 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-23) to finish in seventh place at the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.
Cuba finished the tournament with a 1-4 record for seventh place, while Honduras ended with a 0-5 record in eighth place.
Cuba
Honduras pressured throughout the match, particularly with dominance in serving (11-8), but Cuba secured the victory with an advantage in attacks (37-34) and blocks (10-4). Both teams committed 24 unforced errors.
Cuba’s best scorer was outside hitter Salet Castillo with 12 points on 11 attacks and one block. Middle blocker Yalenis Marquez added 11 points on 8 attacks and 2 aces. Ashely Simon contributed with 9 points.
The top scorer of the match was Honduras’ outside hitter Sasha Kawas, with 17 points on 15 attacks, one block, and one ace. She was joined by opposite María Fernanda Merino and middle blocker Andrea Schmucker, each with 9 points.
Sasha Kawas HON.
Yesica Brito, captain of Cuba: “We finished with our heads held high; there was no other option but to come out with the win.”
Marcos Sugiyama, head coach of Honduras: “The courage they showed today is very satisfying, displaying that we have good volleyball. The best part of the tournament is the learning experience the athletes had throughout this week, to look towards the future, they can change the path by training one day at a time, with motivation, gaining more confidence, being patient, and being resilient.”
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 18, 2024.- United States beat Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) on Thursday to advance to the gold medal match of the 2024 Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
United States will seek their ninth gold medal in this age-group when they face Canada on Friday at 6:00 pm. Puerto Rico will fight against Mexico for their third bronze medal in the history of the tournament on Friday at 4:00 pm.
The Americans are the top medal winners of NORCECA, with 11 overall (8 gold, 3 silver). In this edition, they are undefeated and haven’t dropped a single set.
Audrey Flanagan USA – Javiely Zayas PUR
The United States finished with a 36-26 advantage in attacks, 12-9 in blocks, and 4-1 in service points. Both teams gave away 23 points on errors.
Outside hitters Audrey Flanagan and Henley Anderson were the top scorers for the United States, with 12 points each, both including 10 kills. Middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie registered 9 points, with a match-high of 4 blocks.
Pamela Agosto led Puerto Rico with 12 points from 10 attacks, one block, and one ace. Team captain Alana Guibert followed with 10 points from 8 attacks and 2 blocks.
Puerto Rico managed to recover from a three-point deficit in the first set, tying at 11 points when Angelina Reyes stopped outside hitter Audrey Flanagan, who was leading the American offense. United States advanced to a four-point lead (20-16) with Henley Anderson attacks and Manaia Ogbechie in blocking. In the second set, the United States again felt the pressure from Puerto Rico’s Pamela Agosto and Alana Guibert, denying them two set points before closing with a powerful attack by Ogbechie. The United States found stability in the third set, reaching match point with a wide advantage (24-16), once again with Ogbechie blocking Agosto.
Aniya Warren USA
Jamie Morrison, head coach of United States: “Puerto Rico got better with every match that they had here, they played great volleyball, they pushed us and that helped us. We think of this as a development plan for athletes, so thank you to Puerto Rico, they had a really good tournament. I am proud of our girls for the fight that they showed and they played better volleyball as the match went on, they learned a lot. The win was a team effort, that’s how the U.S. plays, if you look at the stats the points were spread around, there’s six people on the floor, six on the bench and anyone can step in and contribute”.
Eduardo Galarza, head coach of Puerto Rico: “We aim for a good level of play, but our margin of error is very high. For example, when the match started, the first three points for the United States were from our mistakes. In the last set, we missed 7 serves and several attacks. We are making many mistakes, and when playing against a well-structured team, we cannot afford to have such a high margin of errors. Tomorrow, we will go for the bronze medal against Mexico”.
Belize City, Belize, July 18, 2024. – El Salvador defeated Honduras 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-16), securing their first victory in the closing match of the third day in the XX Central American U21 Women’s Championship.
El Salvador’s record is now 1-2 in wins and losses, with only one match left to play this Friday against Belize, while Honduras suffered its second loss without any victories and still has matches pending against Guatemala and Nicaragua.
For El Salvador, Gabriela Flores was the best offensive player with 14 points, 13 of which were from attacks and one from a serve. Honduras had Victoria Aparicio as its top performer with 14 points, 11 from attacks and three from serves.
El Salvador
El Salvador led in collective attack points 30-26, while Honduras was ahead in blocking 5-2 and in serves 9-6, but was affected by unforced errors, committing 37 compared to 14 by their opponent.
After achieving their first success of the tournament, Karen Orellana, coach of El Salvador, stated: “We are very happy with this victory, the girls applied everything we had trained and followed all our instructions.”
Meanwhile, Cristiam Rodríguez, coach of Honduras, commented: “We lacked a bit of attitude. I think it’s important for the girls not only to think about winning but also to have a bit of attitude and try to do things better. We had good moments, but also moments that cost us”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 19, 2024.- Cuba defeated Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-13) on Thursday and finish the preliminary round without defeats to claim first place in Group B at Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup that is held at the “Ricardo Arias” National Volleyball Pavilion.
Cuba was dominant in all aspects over the Dominicans, in attacks 54-45, in blocks 10-7 and in serves 9-5.
With the victory, Cuba advances directly to the Semifinals, while the Dominican Republic will have to play in the Quarterfinals with Chile. In Group A, Canada achieved a direct ticket to semifinals, while the United States and Colombia will battle in quarterfinals for a place in the Semis.
Cuba celebrated
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: It was a very important match for us because we knew that first place in the group was at stake, so the boys came out to give their all and although we had difficulties in the second set, we were able to achieve our goal .
José Gutiérrez, coach of the Dominican Republic: The team played hard and although we failed in some technical aspects of the game, the first sets were battled, but in the fourth set the scoreboard opened a lot and the match got out of reach, now we’ll concentrate on our quarterfinal match.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 18, 2024.- Canada advanced to the gold medal match of the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship after a spectacular five-set semifinal victory, 3-2 (25-19, 7-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11) over Mexico at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Canada will play in the final match on Saturday at 6:00 pm against the winner between United States and Puerto Rico; before that, Mexico will seek to win its fifth bronze medal in the history of the event at 4:00 pm against the loser.
This is the second time Canada has reached the gold medal match; in the previous edition in 2018, here in Honduras, they lost to the United States.
Canadá
Despite Mexico having the advantage in attacks (57-52) and service points (8-5), Canada emerged victorious with a significant advantage in blocks (16-8). Canada conceded more points on errors than Mexico (29-23).
Chloe Bradley was Canada’s top scorer with 21 points (13 attacks, a match-high of 6 blocks, 2 aces). Sol Henson added 20 points (19 attacks, one block), and Carmen Waye contributed 14 points (10 attacks, 4 blocks).
Mexico’s Alejandra Cruz led all scorers with 25 points, all on kills. Angélica Torres scored 17 points (15 attacks, one block, one ace), and Andrea Ravell finished with 13 points (8 attacks, 3 blocks, 2 aces).
Sol Henson CAN – Naomi Cruz MEX
Mexico started strong, jumping to an early 4-0 lead, but Canada found its rhythm to contest a close first set, with the win going to the Canadians thanks to their blocking led by Chloe Bradley. Mexico tied the match with an overwhelming 25-7 over Canada in the second set, with the offensive efforts of Angélica Torres, Naomi Cruz, and Aitana Rettke. In the third set, Canada reached set point after a block by Bradley on Cruz (24-23), who then responded with a powerful kill to tie at 24. Mexico won the set on two Canadian errors. In the fourth set, after being tied at 6 points, Canada kept the advantage. Canadians Sol Henson and Carmen Waye took control of the offense, forcing a fifth set that Canada controlled.
Gina Schmidt, head coach of Canada: “Our team did a good job of sticking to the game plan, we executed that well. Whoever we face in the gold medal match, we played them both in pool-play, so hopefully we’ll learn from our fist match against them”.
Ignacio Ramírez, head coach of Mexico: “I think in the fourth set we completely dropped the pace we had been maintaining, and that marked the difference. Our morale declined, and we couldn’t recover some easy balls that we couldn’t finish. We are going to fight for the bronze medal; we need to keep our heads up.”
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 18, 2024.- Costa Rica recovered from losing the first set to beat Cuba 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19) and will play for fifth place in the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
On Friday at 2:00pm, Costa Rica will face the Dominican Republic for fifth place; meanwhile, at noon, Cuba will play against Honduras for seventh place.
Costa Rica earned the win scoring 38 points on Cuban errors compared to 18 and with a 13-11 advantage in serves. Cuba was superior in attacks 46-39 and in blocks 7-4.
Maria Venegas CRC- Yalenis Marquez CUB
Costa Rica’s captain, middle blocker María del Sol Venegas, led her team with 13 points (12 attacks, one block). Outside hitter Galia Luconi also contributed to the victory with 13 points (11 attacks, one block, one ace). Mariela Navarro added 10 points (7 attacks, one block, 2 aces).
The top scorer of the match was Cuba’s Salet Castillo with 16 points (13 attacks, one block, 2 aces). Middle blocker Lizt López and team captain Yesica Brito each scored 10 points for Cuba.
Mariela Navarro CRC
María del Sol Venegas, captain of Costa Rica: “It was a team effort. We tried to improve our attitude because we know that when that happens, we do things well. Our game is about teamwork, being a team on the court, and our system is communication”.
Norka Latamblét, Cuba’s coach: “The team knows the game fundamentals, but they lack the energy to play”.
Belize City, Belize, July 18, 2024. – Nicaragua achieved an important victory over Guatemala in five intense sets, winning 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16, and 15-8). This triumph revitalized their chances of winning a medal in the XX Central American U21 Women’s Championship of AFECAVOL.
Nicaragua’s record now stands at 2-1 in wins and losses, while Guatemala has a 1-1 record. Belize, which had a rest day, has two wins without losses.
It was a match where Nicaragua maintained their fighting spirit to secure a game that almost opens the doors to the podium, with one more challenge against Honduras on Saturday to close their schedule.
María José Rivera NCA
Meanwhile, Guatemala has matches pending against Honduras and will face Belize in the final round on Saturday.
Norma Brenes was the main attacking figure for Nicaragua with 21 points, 18 in attack and three in serves. María José Rivera was also effective with 16 points, 13 in attack, and three in blocking.
For Guatemala, María Santa Cruz led the offense with 25 points, 19 in attack, and six in serves, while Naomi Monney finished with 17 points, 14 in attack, two in blocking, and an ace.
As a team, Nicaragua achieved 54 points in attack, compared to 40 for Guatemala, which led in blocking 11-6 and serves 12-5, but conceded 41 points on unforced errors compared to 37 for Nicaragua.
Regarding the victory, Claudia Noguera, Nicaragua’s coach, stated: “It is a very important victory that places us on the podium. We only have one match left against Honduras in which we will try to change the color of the medal.”
On the other hand, William Fernández, Guatemala’s coach, pointed out: “Our team stopped fighting at crucial moments, in contrast to Nicaragua, who fought with everything throughout the match.”
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 18, 2024.- Defending champion Canada finished the preliminary round undefeated with a victory against Chile 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 26 -24) on Thursday in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup.
Canada led in kills 37-25 and in blocks 10-4. Both teams scored 4 aces.
Canada’s leading scorer was Daenan Gyimah with 11 points, followed by Skyler Varga with 10 and Jordan Canham with 9. For Peru Vicente Ibarra led all scorers with 13 points and Matías Jadue added 8.
Jordan Canham CAN
Glenn Hoag, coach of Canada: I am very happy with the victory, we beat a team from Chile in three sets that had inspiration, defending the balls very well but we managed to win the match, now we rest day to focus on the semifinals.
Daniel Nejamkin, coach of Chile: We did well, we gave a good demonstration of what our game is, we reached point 19 even in all the sets and in the last set we could have achieved a little more, I think we deserved it.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 18, 2024.- Dominican Republic defeated the host country Honduras 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-11) and will play for fifth place in the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.
Dominican Republic will play for positions 5-6 on Friday at 2:00pm against the winner between Cuba and Costa Rica. Honduras will go against the loser for positions 7-8 at noon.
Ambar Hernandez DOM
In the pool-play, the Dominican Republic also defeated Honduras in straight sets.
Dominican Republic finished the match with a 41-18 advantage in attacks, 5-2 in blocks, and 9-8 in serves. Both teams committed 20 unforced errors.
Opposite Julie Arias scored 17 points (14 attacks, 3 blocks) for the Dominican Republic. She was joined by outside hitter Ambar Hernández with 12 points (11 attacks, one serve).
Opposite María Fernanda Merino led Honduras with 10 points (7 attacks, one block, 2 serves).
Sasha Kawas HON – Caroline Rodriguez DOM
Julie Arias, top scorer for the Dominican Republic: “I think at the beginning we were a bit overconfident, but Honduras never gave up. In the end, we were able to adjust for the result we wanted. We were good in serving, receiving, and defense”.
María Fernanda Merino, top scorer for Honduras: “I believe that in this match we were more united and encouraged, which helped us score more points. The Dominican Republic is a team with a lot of development; they are very fast and taller, which gives them a greater advantage”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 18, 2024.- Colombia defeated Peru 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16) to finish the preliminary round with a record of 3-1 in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup that is being played in the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Colombia was dominant 56-44 in attacks, 10-5 in blocks and 5-3 in serves.
Colombia’s offense was led by Gustavo Larrahondo with 17 points, followed by Daniel Aponza with 14, while Leandro Mejía and Andrés Piza added 10 and 9 points respectively. For Peru, Maikel Jaramillo scored 22 points, the top scorer of the match, while Daniel Porras contributed 9 and Eduardo Romay 8.
Colombia
Leandro Mejía, captain of Colombia: It was a game that became a little difficult for us at times since our reception was a bit complicated, but we moved forward slowly since we had the pressure that we had to win no matter what and thank God we managed to take the game forward and win.
Maikel Jaramillo, player from Peru: We lacked a bit of definition in the match, we were on the court but we didn’t achieve what we wanted but that’s the game, there is always revenge, I hope we get to play against them again so we’ll see.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 18, 2024.- Puerto Rico defeated Mexico in three straight sets 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-16), in the continuation of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup in the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion.
Both teams finished the preliminary round with a record of one win and three losses.
In today’s match Puerto Rico was superior in attacks 33-29, in blocks 7-5 and in serves 6-1.
Klistan Lawrence PUR
Klistan Lawrence was the most outstanding offensive player for the Puerto Ricans with 10 points, helped by Omar Hoyos and Pedro Molina who added 8 points each. For Mexico, Mauro Fuentes scored 10 points, while Franky Milantony and Brandon López had 8 and 5 respectively.
Alberto Torres, coach of Puerto Rico: We have grown a lot in this tournament, we have a young group, we knew it was going to be a tough tournament for us but today the boys went out to compete knowing that we were against the wall and that we had to win, and we managed to obtain the result we were looking for.
Carlos Schwanke, coach of Mexico: Today our team’s performance was not good, we made many mistakes, and it is impossible to play a game like today against Puerto Rico committing all those errors, so we caused the result of the game ourselves.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 17, 2024.-In a highly contested match, which made the audience vibrate, Colombia dominated the host team Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-18, 28-26, 25-27, 29-27), in this 17th edition of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that takes place in the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Colombia demonstrated its superiority in attacks 62-56, in blocks 14-12 and in serves 9-2.
Andres Piza was the top scorer for the Colombians with 19 points, followed by Daniel Apoza and Jharold Caicedo with 17 and 16 points respectively. For the host team, the best was Héctor Cruz with 17 points, accompanied by Wilfrido Hernández with 15.
Jharold Caicedo COL
Carlos Osorio, coach of Colombia: A match that we knew was going to be very interesting for us, a match that was not going to be easy because the Dominican Republic men team is on the rise in a very interesting process, we also knew that they were coming from competing at a NORCECA Cup and they have been preparing in different parts so it was an important game for us to try to score more points.
José Gutiérrez, coach of the Dominican Republic: Colombia was a tough nut to crack, we had that in mind since they have just won bronze in the Pan American Games, our boys gave their all but there are aspects of the game that we must improve, there is still a way to go and that experience is only given by constant practice and above all the game, the more we play with teams of this level, the better for our team because our level will improve.
Belize City, Belize, July 17, 2024.- In a one-sided match, Belize defeated Honduras 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-13), to maintain their strong performance with two victories and zero losses in the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship.
For Honduras, it was their first setback of the event, as they did not play on the first day.
Belize clearly dominated the match, imposing their superior attack, which suppressed the opponent’s momentum, they established a clear advantage of 16-5 in the first set before Honduras responded.
Zanyah Hall BIZ
Belize was dominant in attack points 40 to 14 and in serves 10-3, although they committed 25 unforced errors compared to 23 from Honduras, who also had a slight advantage in block points 4-2.
In offense, Belizean captain Gareth Bruce scored 17 points, 15 on attack and two on serves, while Nissan Martínez contributed 10 points, nine on attacks and one serve.
For Honduras, Victoria Aparicio and Nicole Velásquez each finished with seven points. Aparicio had five on attacks, one on blocks, and one serve, while Velásquez had five on attack and two on serves.
Regarding the victory, Belize captain Gareth Bruce stated: “We were focused on doing our best work, we had the energy, for us this game was great, we are focused on always keeping the same spirit in every match.”
Meanwhile, Honduras captain Mónica Velásquez said: “As a team, we did a good job within our capabilities. It’s true that there are many areas we can improve. I must congratulate my teammates because for many, this is their first national team and many of them are very young, even for this U21 age-group.”
Belize City, Belize, July 17, 2024.- Nicaragua earned a comfortable victory over El Salvador 3-0 (25-7, 28-8, 25-13), in the first match of the second day of the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship of AFECAVOL.
With the win, Nicaragua stands with one win and one loss, while El Salvador has two losses without any victories so far in the event.
María José Rivera was the best attacker for Nicaragua with 15 points, and Samantha Vargas also stood out offensively with 13 points, 11 on attacks and two in service.
Michelle Vasquez and Alejandra Andrade ESA
For El Salvador, María Ramírez finished with four points, while Gabriela Flores and Gabriela Rivas contributed three points each.
Nicaragua was superior to El Salvador in attack points 48 to 10, blocks 3-2, service 8-2, and committed fewer unforced errors 14-16.
Regarding their first success, Norma Brenes, captain of Nicaragua, stated: “We prepared for this victory, we knew we had to win the match, it was important for us because we are still in the fight for the medals.”
Meanwhile, Ariana Joachin, captain of El Salvador, commented: “Nicaragua is a very strong team, and with the preparation time we had, we gave our best effort. In the end, with this match, we have gained experience that will be useful for the future.”
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 17, 2024. – Canada defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-4, 25-19, 25-11) on Wednesday, to advance to the semifinals of the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Canada will face Mexico in the first semifinal on Thursday at 6:00 pm. And Costa Rica will play in the classification matches for positions 5 to 8, starting with Cuba at 4:00 pm. In the other semifinal, United States faces Puerto Rico at 8:00pm.
Chloe Bradley CAN – Galia Luconi CRC
Canada’s force over the net was significant, finishing with advantage in attacks (44-14), blocks (9-2), and aces (7-4). Canada made one less error than Costa Rica (14-25).
Outside hitters Sol Henson and Chloe Bradley led Canada with 15 points each. Henson had 11 attacks, one block, and a match-high of three aces. Bradley scored on 13 attacks and 2 blocks. Middle blocker Maya Bukovcan added 11 points.
Costa Rica’s captain María del Sol Venegas finished with 6 points.
Jimena Alfaro CRC
Canada was dominant in the first set, not allowing Costa Rica to respond. In the second set, Costa Rica improved their game, which allowed them to limit errors and force Canada to lose three set points (16-24) with the attacks of Nadia Granados and the serves of Manuela Alcalá. Canada finally closed the set 25-19 with a kill from Sol Henson. In the third, Canada quickly advanced to a large lead to secure the victory.
Avaya Maga, Canada’s captain: “In the first set we started off with really tough serving and they (Costa Rica) were stuck in a rotation that we capitalized on. In the second set we gave them a lot of points off of our unforced errors and then in the third set we were able to limit our errors and control the game. We are excited to be in the semifinals”.
Nadia Granados, Costa Rica’s setter: “I feel that in the second set we trusted ourselves more and improved our attitude. I am satisfied with our performance in the second set. In the first set, we didn’t give one hundred percent of our capability because we were afraid”.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 17, 2024. – Puerto Rico defeated Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-21) in quarterfinals to advance to the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship semifinals being held at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Puerto Rico will know their opponent in semifinals depending on the result of the other quarterfinal match between Canada and Costa Rica.
The Puerto Ricans controlled the Dominicans with an advantage of 37-25 in attacks, 10-5 in blocks, and 7-1 in aces. Puerto Rico benefited from 21 Dominican errors compared to 19 on their side.
Puerto Rico celebrated
Three players scored double digits in Puerto Rico’s victory, led by captain Alana Guibert with 14 points (10 attacks, 3 blocks, one ace), followed by outside hitter Pamela Agosto with 12 points (10 attacks, 2 blocks) and outside hitter Cherisse Atilano with 10 points (8 attacks, 2 aces).
The only player with double digits for the Dominican Republic was opposite hitter Julie Arias with 13 points on 12 attacks and one block.
Pamela Agosto PUR
Puerto Rico took a four-point lead (10-6) in the first set with the attacks by Alana Guibert and Cherisse Atilano. Puerto Rico increased the lead (18-10) despite the efforts of Julie Arias, who was Dominican’s top scorer, in addition to Puerto Rico’s errors. The teams tied several times before reaching the first technical timeout. From there forward, Puerto Rico jumped to a five-point lead (11-6), which increased with Pamela Agosto and Jomailee Reyes joining the net control until closing at 25-13. In the third set, the blocking of Guibert and Agosto pushed Puerto Rico to a comfortable four-point lead (12-8), but with consecutive points from Arias and Estel Santos, the Dominicans managed to tie at 13 points and stay close until reaching point 20. Alondra Adorno came to the service line, leading Puerto Rico to a straight set victory.
Alondra Adorno, outside hitter of Puerto Rico: “The blocking helped us a lot to get the positive result, as well as good defense and consistency in serving. For the upcoming matches, we need to practice having a lot of definition to dominate the games and finish strong”.
Virelys Rivera, outside hitter of Dominican Republic: “In the third set, we had more concentration in receiving and blocking, which helped us a lot, along with better control in serving. Puerto Rico had good defense and pressured us with their serves”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 17, 2024.- United States beat Chile in straight sets 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-15) in the continuation of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that is held in the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion.
The United States won in attacks 36-28, in blocks 10-2 and in serves 4-2.
Brett Wildman led the Americans’ offense with 10 points accompanied by Cooper Robinson and Gabriel García who contributed 9 apiece. For the Chileans, Vicente Ibarra had 7 points followed by Vicente Parraguirre with 6 and Matías Jadue who added 5.
Brett Wildman USA
Andy Read, coach of the United States: I am very proud of my boys, we had a very intense previous game against Canada and they responded with an excellent game against a very good team like Chile, now we have to focus on the playoffs.
Daniel Nejamkin, coach of Chile: We had a very good first set and then the United States clearly showed superiority, both on the scoreboard and in the game.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 17, 2024.- Cuba continued its victorious path defeating Guatemala in straight sets 3 -0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-20), who finished the preliminary round without victory (0-4), on Wednesday in the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup that’s being played at the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Cuba led Guatemala in attacks 41-29, in blocks 9-2 and in serves 4-0.
For Cuba, José Romero scored 20 points, Thiago Suárez 14 and Jakdiel Contreras added another 7. For Guatemala, José Pérez finished with 10 points, while Carlos López and Jason Hernández added 6 points each.
Cuba
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: It was a fairly calm match despite the fact that in the second set the boys got too confident, and it caused us a bit of problems in some aspects of the game, but we also gave our reserve players some time on the court thinking about tomorrow’s match which is the most important one because we will decide the first place in our group against the Dominicans.
Reider Mora, coach of Guatemala: We knew that we were going against a much more solid Cuban team, with a good level of play and we knew that it was a very difficult opponent, but the boys made the effort and without a doubt that this tournament helped us a lot to continue raising our level.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 17, 2024.- Canada had no difficulties in defeatingMexico in straight sets 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20), in the first match of day four of the XVII Pan American Men’sVolleyball Cup in the “Ricardo Arias” Pavilion.
The Canadians were far superior every skill, in attacks 36-25, in blocks 9-5 and in serves 7-1.
Mauro Fuentes MEX
Jesse Elser and Jackson Howe were the most outstanding players of Canada with 10 points each, followed by Jordan Canham and Isaac Heslinga with 9 and 8 points respectively. Mexico’s offense was led by Axel Tellez with 7 points and Jared Toy who added 6.
Canada (3-0) has to face Chile in its last match of the preliminary round , while Mexico will face Puerto Rico.
Quarterfinals will be played on Friday, Semifinals on Saturday and the Final on Sunday
Belize City, Belize, July 16, 2024. – Belize earned an important first victory over Nicaragua, winning 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-20) in the closing match of the opening day of the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship.
Belize did not disappoint their fans at the Belize Civic Center, delivering a strong performance against Nicaragua, which could not do much against their opponent’s momentum.
Individually, Belize found their best offensive player in Nissan Martínez, who scored 22 points, with 18 from attacks, two from blocks, and two from service, supported by Gareth Bruce, who scored 17 points, 15 from attacks, one from blocking, and one from service.
Belize celebrate
For Nicaragua, María José Rivera scored a total of 10 points, eight from attacks and two from blocks. Samantha Vargas also stood out with eight points, five from attacks, one from blocking, and two from service.
As a team, Belize led in attacks 41-27, in service points 8-5, and committed fewer unforced errors 19-24. Both teams were even in blocking points, with seven each.
After their first victory, Belize’s coach José Fontes mentioned: “It was a very tense match despite the 3-0 score. We know the quality of Nicaragua; they never gave up during the match and always stayed close on the scoreboard. For us, this is a very important victory that gives us a lot of confidence for the upcoming matches”.
On the other hand, Nicaragua’s coach Claudia Noguera stated: “Belize is a very difficult team with very tall players, many of whom already have knowledge about our team. The key is not to lower our heads; the tournament is just beginning, and we can still make a difference”.
Belize City, Belize, July 16, 2024.- Guatemala defeated El Salvador in straight sets (25-14, 25-22, 25-21) in the first match of the 20th Central American U21 Women’s Championship of AFECAVOL, held at the Belize Civic Center in Belize City, Belize.
The Guatemalans were superior in collecting attack points, 45-16, and were more effective in service points, 11-6. El Salvador was affected by 32 unforced errors, compared to 16 by the winners.
María Santa Cruz led Guatemala’s attack with a total of 26 points, 21 of which were attacks and five in service. Naomy Monney was also effective offensively with 12 points, ten from attacks and two from service.
Guatemala celebrate
For El Salvador, Araiana Joachin was the best attacker with nine points, two from attacks and blocks, and five from service.
Regarding the first victory in the tournament, Guatemala’s coach William Fernández commented: “The first match of an event is always very difficult; it’s the first step to take, which is why every match is like a final. We must acknowledge that El Salvador fought until the end, especially in the last two sets, which shows that it will be a very close competition.”
On the other hand, El Salvador’s coach Karen Orellana stated: “It was a good match; I feel we had some difficulties closing the sets. As the matches progress, we will adjust as a team to resolve those issues we had in the sets.”
Guatemala will rest on the second day this Wednesday 17th, while El Salvador will face Nicaragua.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 16, 2024.- Dominican Republic remained undefeated on the third day of competition by beating Guatemala 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup that takes place in the Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
The Dominicans dominated everything 49-34 in attacks, 5-4 in blocks and 4-3 in serves.
Henry Tapia was the top scorer for the Dominican Republic with 23 points accompanied by Hector Cruz, who scored 13. For Guatemala, Yeferson Zavala and Andy Blanco scored 10 points each.
Hnery Tapia DOM
Henry Tapia, captain of the Dominican Republic: Today’s game was not an easy game, but we achieved the objective we were looking for, which was to maintain the reception as well as the attack and blocking, then with those three objectives we executed the action and achieved the result 3-0.
Carlos López, captain of Guatemala: Well, I think we improved a little compared to yesterday’s game, we knew it was a difficult game, the Dominican Republic has a great team, we knew they were at home and they did things well, we made several mistakes that cost us a lot because the scoreboard opened up a lot, but I think the team’s attitude was different in this match.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 16, 2024. – Mexico defeated the host country Honduras 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-8) in their third consecutive victory to advance directly to the semifinals of the Girls’ U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.
Mexico finished first in pool B undefeated and without losing a single set, advancing to Thursday’s semifinals. Honduras, winless (0-3), will play in the classification matches for positions 5 to 8.
Mexico celebrate
Mexico dominated Honduras without setbacks, holding a significant advantage of 40 to 12 in attacks and 12 to 1 in service aces. In blocks, Mexico held a slight edge of 3 to 2. Both teams were similar in errors, with Mexico committing 18 and Honduras 20.
The top scorer of the match was Mexico’s Angélica Torres with 15 points. Naomi Cruz and Aylin Ravell added 10 and 9 points respectively. Aitana Rettke scored a match-high of 4 aces.
Outside hitter Sasha Kawas was the leading scorer for Honduras with 10 points.
Sasha Kawas HON – Aitana Retke MEX
Angélica Torres, top scorer for Mexico: “We had the opportunity to try new things on the court to prepare for the upcoming matches. We analyzed plays, some couldn’t be completed, and others could. Everyone played today. In the semifinals, we hope to give more than a hundred percent, which is what Mexico deserves”.
Sasha Kawas, top scorer for Honduras: “Mexico plays very fast, and we didn’t defend well. We couldn’t execute the reception and we should have had more spirit to fight harder. It’s over now, the tournament continues”.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 16, 2024.- Canada defeated Cuba 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-21) to take second place in pool A of the Girls’ U19 NORCECA U19 Continental Championship being played at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Canada finished pool-play with a 2-1 record and will compete in the quarterfinals as the second-place team in pool A. Cuba, with a 0-3 record, will play in the classification matches for positions 5 to 8.
Canada dominated every skill, attack (34-23), blocking (9-5), and serving (9-7). Canada committed 18 errors, while Cuba committed a total of 23.
Sol Henson CAN
Chloe Bradley of Canada scored 13 points (8 attacks, 4 blocks, 1 ace) as the top scorer of the match. Sol Henson contributed 10 points, all from attacks, in Canada’s victory.
Yesica Brito and Salet Castillo were the top scorers for Cuba with 11 points each.
Canada and Cuba had a close first set, but the North American team always maintained the lead, taking advantage of the 24 errors conceded by Cuba. Canada dominated set two entirely, closing it with a huge margin of 25-12. Cuba made a comeback in the third set with Yesica Brito and Salet Castillo leading the offense, managing to tie at 18 points, but Maya Bukovac, Sol Henson, and Chloe Bradley pressured and stopped Cuba’s momentum.
Canada
Chloe Bradley, top scorer for Canada: “The second set was really strong, we had the energy going through it and we kept up the whole set, we had no drops. We had a few dips in the first and third sets, I believe our energy went down and maybe we were a bit scared”.
Yesica Brito, captain of Cuba: “We always kept our spirits high, trying to fight. Despite the ups and downs, it was a very good game. I don’t know what happened in the second set, I can’t explain it”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 16, 2024.- The defending champions Canada overcame United States in a hard-fought match that went to a maximum of five sets with 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 25 -27, 25-23, 15-9) to improve (2-0) in the XVII edition of the Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup.
Canada took the honors in attacks 62-52, in blocks 9-4 and in serves 6-4.
Canada’s captain Jesse Elser was the top scorer with 21 points, followed by Isaac Heslinga and Jackson Howe with 17 points each. For the Americans, Michael Marshman was the best with 15 points accompanied by Gabriel García who added 13.
Canada
Isaac Heslinga, player from Canada: I think we played with the basic fundamentals, the plan was to keep strong serves and work them well and our offense. For the next matches we must work on some things on our central line but for all the rest we are fine.
Michael Marshman, United States player: It was a classic game between Canada and the United States which are usually very battled on both sides, today I think we came up a little short, but I give all the credit to Canada, they made good adjustments during the game and that gave them this victory.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 16, 2024. – United States topped pool A undefeated and advanced to the semifinals of the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship after defeating Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-22) on Tuesday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
United States closed the preliminary round with a perfect 3-0 record, without losing a single set and earning a direct ticket to Thursday’s semifinals. Puerto Rico finished with a 1-2 record and awaits the result between Canada (1-1) and Cuba (0-2) to determine their final position.
Henley Anderson USA
The Americans relied on their strength in attacks (40-26) to dominate Puerto Rico. They also had an advantage in blocking (8-5) and serving (8-3). Puerto Rico committed fewer unforced errors (19-24).
Outside hitters Kelly Kinney and Hanley Anderson led the United States with 11 points each. Kinney on 8 kills, one block, and one ace; Anderson on 10 kills and one block.
Puerto Rico’s outside hitter Cherisse Atilano led all scorers with 12 points on 11 attacks and one block. Alana Guibert contributed 9 points.
Cherisse Atilano PUR- Kelly Kinney USA
The first set was very close, with both teams taking turns in the lead until reaching the second technical timeout tied when the attacking efforts of Halle Thompson and Henley Anderson pushed the Americans to close at 25-20. USA reached a comfortable six-point lead (15-9) in the second set with Elena Hoecke leading the offense. In the third, Puerto Rico pushed again, with a 16-14 advantage with strong blocking and attacking by Cherisse Atilano. The teams were tied at 21 points, but Kelly Kinney sealed the match for the United States with a service point.
Kelly Kinney, top scorer for United States: “I think the match challenged us more mentally than it did competition wise. We just stayed strong physically and mentally, and that’s what helped to win. We trusted each other a lot and we supported each one on and off the court. Our team did a good job serving aggressively”.
Cherisse Atilano, top scorer for Puerto Rico: “It was an exciting match. In the second set, the sun affected us, but despite that, we did very well. We gave it our all in the first and third sets, raising our level of play, which we had been striving for. We stood out in our team unity and pushing forward at key moments”.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 16, 2024 .- Dominican Republic complete pool-play at the Girls U19 NORCECA Continental Championship with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-18) victory over Costa Rica on Tuesday at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.
Dominican Republic finished pool B with a 2-1 record, while Costa Rica ended with a 1-2 record. Both teams await their final standings after Honduras (0-2) faces Mexico (2-0) in the last match of the day.
Caroline Rodriguez DOM
The Caribbean team outscored the Central Americans 41 to 21 in attack points, 12 to 7 in block points, and 6 to 2 in services. Dominican Republic committed 19 errors compared to Costa Rica’s 16.
Three players led the Dominican Republic with double digits. Middle blocker Caroline Rodríguez was the top scorer of the match with 17 points, including a match-high of 7 block points and 9 kills. Outside hitter Thais Cochy added 11 points on 8 kills, 2 blocks, and an ace. Virelys Rivera contributed 10 points.
For Costa Rica, middle blocker and captain María del Sol Venegas, along with outside hitter Mariela Navarro, scored 9 points each.
Maria del Sol Venegas CRC
Dominican Republic quickly took an 11-3 lead in the first set, overpowering Costa Rica with the offensive efforts of Caroline Rodríguez and Thais Cochy. In the second set, Costa Rica kept the score close thanks to the attacks from María del Sol Venegas and opponent errors, tying the set at 17 points before the Dominicans pulled ahead with blocks from Rodriguez and Rivera’s attacks to take the set. Dominican Republic regained control in the third set, never trailing.
Caroline Rodríguez, top scorer of the Dominican Republic: “The coach’s instructions were to be strong in blocking, take risks in serving, and be prepared to defend. In the quarterfinals, we will give our best, continue fighting, and put into practice what we have trained. We are going to represent our country with heart”.
Jimena Alfaro, libero of Costa Rica: “In the second set, we tried to be more organized on the court because that affected us in the first set where we were disoriented and unfocused. We will see what position we end up in, but we will strive to perform at our best against any opponent”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 16, 2024.- After losing the first set, Cuba made the necessary adjustments to win the other three sets and beat Peru 3-1 (16-25, 25-17-25 -17, 25-19) on the third day of competitions of the XVII Men’s Volleyball Cup.
Cuba led 54-44 in attacks and 11-5 in blocks. Peru did better in serves 5-3.
Cuba’s top scorer was Carlos Santana with 12 points, while Victor Andreu scored 11 and Alexis Wilson 10. Eduardo Romay of Perú led all scorers with 20 points; Maikel Jaramillo contributed 10 points for Peru.
Alexis Wilson CUB
Mario Izquierdo, coach of Cuba: This match is extremely important because it puts us in an advantageous situation compared to the group, a match that allows us to still have the possibility of finishing first in our group and already being within the first four of this competition. This was a tough game in which Peru made it a bit difficult for us in the first set, but the boys made the adjustments, and we were able to obtain the victory.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, coach of Peru: Cuba is a team that plays very well, they have a lot of strength in their serve and in their attack, we were able to surprise them in the first set, then they got their rhythm of play and did well, it is a young team and very capable.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 16, 2024.- Chile obtained its first victory after defeating Puerto Rico in a well contested match 3-1 (27-25, 28-26, 17-25, 25-22) on the third day of competitions of the XVII Men’s Volleyball Cup at the “Ricardo Arias” Volleyball Pavilion.
Even though they did not obtain the victory, Puerto Rico surpassed Chile in attacks 54-53, in blocks 10-8 and in serves 3-2.
Chile
Chile’s offense was led by Vicente Parraguirre with 16 points, followed by Dusan Bonacic with 15 and Gabriel Araya with 13. Klistan Lawrence was the best for the Puerto Ricans with 17 points, accompanied by Ismael Alomar and Jonathan Rodríguez with 12 and 10 points respectively.
Vicente Parraguirre, player from Chile: The games with Puerto Rico have always been very intense, both teams had come from losses, and this was a very difficult game and I´m very happy with the victory obtained and now moving forward.
Pedro Molina, player from Puerto Rico: It was a difficult match, we have competed with them several times before, they have a good team, well organized and in the key moments of the game they played better than us, but we must keep holding our heads high and focus on tomorrow’s game.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 15, 2024. – Dominican Republic defeated Honduras 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-12) to score their first win in the Girls’ U19 NORCECA Continental Championship on Monday night at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.
Dominican Republic improved their record in pool B to 1-1, while Honduras stands at 0-2.
On Tuesday, Dominican Republic (1-1) will face Costa Rica (1-1) at 2:00 pm to determine their final position in pool B. Honduras (0-2) will meet Mexico (2-0) at 8:00 pm.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic executed their strategy with a sizeable advantage of 40-19 in attacks and 10-3 in service points. Additionally, the Dominicans dominated blocking 5-3 and committed fewer unforced errors (18-20).
The only player in double digits was Dominican middle blocker Caroline Rodríguez, who scored 13 points on 8 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 service points. Outside hitter Thais Cochy and captain Yalyn Firpo each added 9 points.
Sasha Kawas was the top scorer for Honduras with 8 points.
Sasha Kawas HON
In the first set, Honduras started strong, surprising the Dominicans by keeping the score close. Thanks to the offense of Thais Cochy and Ambar Hernández, the Dominican Republic regained control to finish the set on top. Dominican Republic controlled Honduras the rest of the match with skillful directed serves and powerful attacks.
Ana Patricia Encarnación, setter for the Dominican Republic: “We were in trouble in the first set. I feel that some players, due to inexperience, found it hard to start strong. We executed our game strategy, which is to play intelligently, observe the opponent to always score, and direct our serves”.
Jimena Aguilar, setter for Honduras: “It was difficult to keep up with the Dominican Republic’s pace. The team’s spirit was affected. We started with a lot of energy but didn’t continue fighting. I hope we can all perform better tomorrow than we did today”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 15, 2024.- Peru won against Guatemala 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-22) on the second day of competitions of the XVII Cup Men’s Volleyball Pan American Championship that takes place in the National Volleyball Pavilion of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
Peru was better in attacks 44-34 and in blocks 13-8, while both teams tied at 2 points on serves.
Peruvian captain Eduardo Romay was the best offensively for his team with 14 points, while Benjamín Patrón and Maikel Jaramillo added 12 and 11 points respectively. For Guatemala, team captain Carlos López scored 14 points and Andy Blanco added another 11.
Andy Leonardo GUA
Eduardo Romay, captain of Peru: It has been a super difficult game for us, Guatemala is a team that we have not seen since 2018 so we had lost their game a little, for us the key was finding ourselves playing our game and luckily it did not go well .
Carlos López, captain of Guatemala: We had a game with many ups and downs, there were positive and negative streaks, but the negative ones were more frequent and that was what made the difference in the result of the game in the end.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, July 15, 2024. – United States downed Canada 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-15) for their second victory in the Girls´U19 NORCECA Continental Championship at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
With a perfect 2-0 record in pool A, the United States will conclude the preliminary round on Tuesday at 4:00 pm against Puerto Rico (1-1). Canada, with a 1-1 record, will face Cuba (0-2) at 6:00 pm in their last pool-play match.
Audrey Flanagan USA – Avaya Maga CAN
The Americans finished with a huge advantage in the statistics: attacking (39-14), blocking (10-4), and serving (7-0); but committed more errors (29-19).
Middle blocker Manaia Ogbechie and outside hitter Audrey Flanagan led the United States with 13 points each. Ogbechie ended with 7 kill points, 3 blocks, and 3 service points. Flanagan recorded 9 kill points, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. Kelly Kinney contributed 10 points.
Abby Wasutik CAN
On the Canadian side, Sydney Bell, Abby Wasutyk, and Alyssa Flack each scored three points.
Manaia Ogbechie, top scorer for the United States: “In the first part of the first set we were figuring out Canada and then we started playing our game, once that happened it was perfect. Our game is consistent, it’s like a snake, we wrap around, and we coil together. We are always cheering one another”.
Kylie Savin, libero for Canada: “We communicated better in the first set, we made less errors and we were disciplined, playing it clean to stay closer to them. Tomorrow, we need to use our pins more, hitting strong and running a few more balls. We must make sure the passing stays strong”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 15, 2024.- The United States scored its second victory after beating Mexico 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) in the XVII Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup.
The United States surpassed Mexico 47-41 in attacks, 7-4 in blocks and 10-4 in serves.
The United States offense was led by Gabriel García with 15 points followed by Ethan Champlin who accumulated 11, while Mauro Fuentes and Juan García stood out for Mexico with 13 and 12 points respectively.
Mauro Fuentes MEX
Quinn Isaacson, captain of the United States: It was a slow game, we knew that Mexico had a good team, we inserted guys from the bench and I’m glad that we had difficult moments during the game and we were able to overcome them, which I like since we have some difficult games ahead of us and I see it well that we have won, although there are things that need to be improved.
Mauro Fuentes, captain of Mexico: The United States appeared very strong in this match mainly on the service line, tactically good in that aspect apart from having a very high block, I think we were able to compete with them in the first three sets; I think we lost the fourth set because we lacked concentration, but without a doubt they are a great rival.
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