HAVANA, Cuba, October 4, 2022.- Team Canada obtained their second win in pool B sweeping Haiti 25-17, 25-19 and 25-14 on Tuesday at the Men’s U21 Pan American Cup, a world championship qualifier, at Ciudad Deportiva, the largest covered venue in the country.
The northern, with better height than their opponents, had no setbacks to dominate with huge advantages in attacks (39-17), blocks (11-2) and serves (5-2) their victory in one hour and 16 minutes.
Their best men in offense were outside hitter Jacob Sargent (15 points), middle blocker Cory Schoenherr (13) and opposite hitter Brendan Mills (12), the only ones with double digits, as outside hitter Antoine Seraphin was the best, finishing with eight tallies.
The college Canadian team is undefeated, while their opponent has suffered two losses. On Wednesday they face Cuba and Nicaragua respectively, to decide which team of this pool advances directly into semifinals.
Ben Josephson, head coach of Canada: “I am very happy to have won our second match. Last night we saw the match between Cuba and Haiti, in which the visitors were tough against the hosts, and we prepared our team for today”.
Cory Schoenherr, captain of Canada: “Honestly, we have been preparing for the match against Cuba on Wednesday, we played a friendly match here prior to the tournament. We also saw their match against Hait, team to whom we won today, and we are glad for that”.
Lodz, Poland, October 4, 2022.- The United States defeated the Dominican Republic at the start of Phase 2 of the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The Americans defeated the Caribbean Queens in four sets with a score of 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-14). The United States was better in attacks (63-47) and in services (7-2) while the Dominican outperformed them in blocks (12-9).
For the United States Alexandra Frantti had 17 points and Andrea Drews and Kelsey Robinson added 15 points respectively. For the Dominican Republic, left-hander Gaila González got 17 points and Brayelin Martínez added another 12.
Lodz, Poland, October 4, 2022.- Team Canada edged out team Thailand to put their record even with 3 wins and 3 losses at the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The Canadians needed 4 sets to defeat the Thai team with a score of 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22). Canada was better in attacks (65-63) and in blocks (13-5) while in services both teams managed 4 each.
For Canada Alexa Gray had 25 points and Kiera Van Ryk contributed another 24. For Thailand Pimpichaya Kokram added 24 points and Ajcharaporn Kongyot added 16.
HAVANA, Cuba, October 3, 2022.- Cuba defeated Haiti 3-1 in the closing of the first day of the U21 Men’s Pan American Cub, after the visitor’s tough performance in front of their fans at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.
In the pool B match, the hosts had to calm their nerves and organize their game to stop their enthusiastic opponents and finally perform at their real level of play to overcome by 18-25, 25-17, 25-12 y 25-11.
In the end the host sustained advantages in attacks (47-27), blocks (9-4) and serves (12-3), but committing more errors than Haiti (31-24).
Opposite hitter Alejandro Miguel González, under-19 and under-21 world championship player, scored a match high as well as the first day with 25 points, followed by outside hitter Bryan Camino with 17, the only ones with double digits for Cuba, also achieved by their rivals, opposite Estakend Beauvoir (11).
Jesús Cruz, Cuban head coach commented “the nerves and tension were visible, we committed more than 14 errors in the first set, we failed almost every serve. It seems it was an impact to play at Ciudad Deportiva with a competitive surrounding by the fans, the music, all of it is new for them. The moment to let out the tensions is in the first two matches, after that we can’t risk it against Canada”.
Yonni Iglesias, host captain, said “we were a bit overconfident against an inferior team, but from the second set on we recovered. Starting tomorrow we will come out with confidence, glad, perform our match and battle to win the first place of the tournament”.
Head coach of Haiti, Junior Siecle, expressed his joy “I am glad for the first set, but I knew that Cuba is better prepared physically, and it showed the difference with my team. Tomorrow we face Canada, we won’t have enough time to rest, but we will look for our team’s progress and to get more in the competition”.
The visitor’s captain Dieulengy Relis said “when we started, we were relaxed, we got in with all our force, but we knew they are a superior team. I am happy, we knew it was difficult to obtain the victory, but we are happy”.
All four teams from the NORCECA Confederation advance to the second round of the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The best team qualify to the next phase is the United States, which will go to the next round with a 2-1 record, while Canada and the Dominican Republic have one win and two losses, while Puerto Rico reaches the stage with zero victory and three defeats they suffered with the teams that advanced with the Pool A.
The competition rules of the Women’s World Championsgip in their latest editions present a first round of six groups, where the best four teams advance to the second round and cross the Pools A-D and B-C, the teams take only the victories and losing result of the team groups that accompany to the round.
Then the best four teams in the second round will go to the Quarterfinals, from that moment the competition becomes single elimination.
The 16 teams that advance are Italy, Belgium, Holland, Puerto Rico for Pool A; Turkey, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Poland for group B; Serbia, United States, Canada, Germany for C and China, Brazil, Japan and Argentina for D.
The second round begins on Tuesday, October 4 with the new Norceca classic that faces the Dominican Republic and United States (11:30 a.m.). Also The Queens of the Caribbean’ will face Serbia, Germany and Canada.
While in the second phase, Puerto Rico will face China on October 5 at 11:15 AM, the next day they will face Brazil at 10:00 AM. They will then face Japan on October 7 at 8:15 AM and Argentina on October 9 at 12:30 PM.
The oponente of USA and Canadá are Turkey, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Poland.
HAVANA, Cuba, October 3, 2022.- The college team of Canada made their debut with a victory over Nicaragua in straight sets (25-15, 25-21, 25-11) in pool B of the U21 Men’s Pan American Cup, that grants two tickets for NORCECA at the 2023 World Championship.
The northerners enjoyed superiority in attacks (40-24), blocks (6-2) and a lot more with their lethal serves (9-1), but both teams committed 20 errors.
Outside hitter Reeve Gingera led all scorers with 12, joined by middle blocker Lucas Musschoot (11) and outside hitter Daniil Hershtynovich (10). For Nicaragua the player that scored the most was outside hitter Josué David Blandon with 7 tallies.
Canadians MASON GREVES (8CAN) and JOHN OBI (21CAN) block
Ben Josephson, head coach of Canada said, “we started a bit unfocused in serves and blocks, in the third set we were more effective while intercepting our opponents’ attacks, at the same time we did it with serves. We are glad to be here and that my players will grow during the tournament”.
Their team captain Cory Schoenherr expressed his joy in his team’s debut because “it’s an opportunity to share with my teammates. This first match was really to put together some details and improve thinking ahead of our next game”.
Rafael Francisco Hernández, Nicaraguan captain said “we were aware that it wasn’t an easy game, we lacked in receiving, nevertheless we gave it all. We lost, but we did what we could, and you always learn from errors, and mostly against a very tall team”.
Nicaragua’s coach Jorge Mena manifested “Canada is a tall team, but we were able to play against them in the second set, but in the third we failed in receiving. They must overcome the fear of facing taller opponents. For me, they played very well, obviously with many errors at the beginning, they are young, and we are working in our development. This is a process for a long time ahead”.
HAVANA, Cuba, October 3, 2022.- Mexico beat Dominican Republic 3-1 (20-25, 25-23,26-24, 25-20) in the opening of the Men´s U21 Pan American Cup at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.
Dominicans started off with a lot, but their opponents knew how to establish their strategy and were superior in attacks (63-55), in blocks (10-8) and in serves (4-2), while committing more unforced errors (27-19) in a pool A match.
The leading scorers were Dominicans Luther Rosario, team captain, and Ronny Molina, both with 19 points, while from the winning team the players that scored the most were opposite hitter Ángel Domínguez (17) and Ramón González (14), followed by middle blocker Diego Esquivel and Leonardo Maldonado, 12 tallies each.
Head Coach Jorge Alberto Romero (Mexico) said “to lift the team we had to insist them the need to perform orderly and with discipline to help solve things, and that to play technically helps more than physical work. It’s very important for them to understand it, to solve the actions”.
“Our weapon was a directing and floating in serves, Dominicans have a good floating serve, but they don’t have reception and we took advantage of that, attacking to a player that luckily they never changed, and we worked on him the entire time and complicated their passing by the middle, which was harming us the most”.
Their team captain Jorge Robles gave his opinion “we were always united, we have our game play, and we can do well and more, because with this teamwork we can beat any team”.
Jorge Dante, head coach of Dominican Republic, recognized that “our reception and blocking fail completely, but the team is well, they are young, and I have two athletes that are adjusting, and I am observing who will stay, because our starting player couldn’t because he’s in college. We will continue to work on our deficiencies, I hope they improve in these two skills, because our attacking was good”.
Ronny Molina, Dominican outside hitter said “we started well, with attitude and confidence, but then came our errors, we thought the other team was weak, and we completely lost focus. I always trusted my team, nevertheless I believe we stopped communicating”.
HAVANA, October 2nd, 2022.- Two tickets for the FIVB U21 Men’s World Championship will be up for grabs at the age-group Pan American Cup that begins on Monday at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.
During the preliminary inquiries each team delegate was informed that these two spots will be granted to the best two teams of NORCECA since only Chile from the South American Confederation is participating and as per regulations, four teams of each confederation must be participating to compete for one of the spots.
In the meantime, seven out of eight coaches gave their opinion regarding their goals during this tournament. United States was not able to arrive on time due to flight delays and it was determined that their match against Chile will be played on Thursday, October 6th}
On Monday, Dominican Republic faces Mexico in group A, and in group B, Nicaraga-Canada and Cuba-Haiti.
Ben Josephson, Canada: “We worked hard, we are eager to play. We have worked and prepared to qualify for Worlds. My players are college students, but I keep an eye on them and see them play as a team in college. I think that our main opponents are Cuba and the United States. We played two days ago with the locals and won in five sets”.
Jesús Cruz, Cuba: “The preparation has been with ups and down, but we have been able to train and concentrate a group of athletes in this category, some went to the U19 World Championship, others have no competitive experience. That is why we took advantage of the friendly games against Canada and the Dominican Republic. That always helps a lot and more at these ages. Training is not the same as playing infront of a crowd, referees, at the venue and other tensions that competition brings. But we train to win, so we not only aspire to World Championship quota, but also to win the cup”.
Iván Villarreal, Chile: “The first objective of our base teams is to give them a significant amount of competition that allows us to carry them through their development so that they can be part of the main squad. This group is a mix of the under-19 who participated in the Pan American Cup in Guatemala in May and players from the under-21. Our idea is to train them and have previous events prior to attend next year’s U23 Championship. At the South American U21 we finished third, behind Brazil and Argentina (classified), and we are at the waiting room for the World Championship”.
Junior Siecle, Haití: “It is our first Norceca event in which we have participated, but the objective has not changed, they want to do a good job, have a good tournament and to fight for a place in the World Championship. We have various weapons, and they are strengthened by the preparation we have done, but since we don’t know our rivals, we have high expectations of knowing how they will develop”.
José Dante Manon, Dominican Republic: “We have a very young team, but I think we are ready for the qualification. We recognize that we will have strong rivals like the United States, Canada and Cuba, who has a tall and tremendously powerful team; that we were able to witness during friendly matches. Our strength is the attack, it will be our main weapon and we are going to try to develop it and show our cheerful game”.
Jorge Alberto Romero, Mexico: “We come from a three-week preparation at the National Training Center in Mexico City, and we are going to fight for the classification, looking for one of the two Norceca’s Worlds tickets. There are players who played in the U19 World Championship in Egypt; however, it is a recently assembled young team, but with a lot of talent. With all rivals we must have push, since none of them will be weak, but I think that the United States, Canada and Cuba are the teams with most options”.
Jorge Mena, Nicaragua: “The main objective is to compete, to do the best. Also, that it serves as preparation for the U21 Central American Championship to be held in our country from the 16th to the 24th of this month. We are the current champions, but we have rivals like Guatemala and Costa Rica, and any of the three can win. This Cup helps you raise the level a little more to face them. The first time we have a fairly high team and due to its age, it can still improve. We are working to have a good team in the future that later can become the base of the senior team”.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, October 2, 2022.- Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson of the United States were crowned champions of the Punta Cana Beach Volleyball Tournament, the fourth stop of the 2022 NORCECA Tour, over Canadians Lea Monkhouse and Molley McBain 2-0 (21-17, 21-19).
Turner and Anderson advanced to the title match winning 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) in semifinals to Atenas Gutierrez and Maria Celeste Ibarra of Mexico, while Monkhouse and McBain were one minute short of an hour (59 min) in prevailing to compatriots Amanda Harnett and Marie-Alex Bélanger 2-1 (21-12, 20-22, 15-11).
Canadians Harnett and Bélanger claimed the bronze medal over Mexican duo Gutierrez/Ibarra 2-0 (21-17, 21-18).
Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson of the United States
The local duo of Bethania Almanzar and Esmeralda Ramirez won the match for fifth place to Angel Williams and Kianny Araya Quesada of Costa Rica 2-0 (21-12, 21-19).
On their way to fight for the fifth place, Almanzar/Ramirez obtained a tough 2-1 (22-20, 10-21, 19-17) victory over Mexico’s Albarran/Flores and Williams/Quesada beat Smith/Kelly of Jamaica 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) who finished in seventh place.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, October 2, 2022.- Timothy Brewster and Kyle Friend of the United States won the gold medal over Cuban Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) of the fourth stop of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour in Punta Cana.
Brewster and Friend reached the gold medal match defeating the local pair of Jose Martinez and Francisco De Jesus 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) in semifinals, while Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo struggled in the second set to come on top of Canadians Jake MacNeil and William Russell 2-0 (21-13, 22-20).
Jake MacNeil and William Russell fought strongly to come from behind and win the bronze medal to Dominicans Jose Martinez and Francisco De Jesus 2-1 (14-21, 21-14, 15-8).
Timothy Brewster and Kyle Friend of the United States
Mexican Jorge Barajas and Ricardo Galindo finished in fifth place defeating Guatemalan Andy Blanco and Luis García 2-0 (21-12, 21-16). Barajas/Galindo progressed to the fifth-place match beating Franklyn Flores and Armando Guatemala of El Salvador 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) and Blanco/García over Sheldon Descartes and Joseph Clercent of St. Lucia by a score of 2-0 (21-14, 21-15).
Salvadorians Flores/Guatemala won the battle for seventh place against Sheldon/Clercent of St. Lucia 2-0 (21-12, 21-12).
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, October 1, 2022.- The two Canadian women duos of Amanda Harnett and Marie-Alex Bélanger, and Lea Monkhouse alongside Molley McBain kept their winning streak and will meet in Sunday’s semifinals of the fourth stop of the 2022 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour in Punta Cana.
The first Canadian pair to reach the semifinals was Amanda Harnett and Marie-Alex Bélanger after winning their quarterfinal match to Angel Williams and Kianny Araya Quesada of Costa Rica 2-0 (21-12, 21-17).
While Lea Monkhouse and Molley McBain came out on top of Petal Smith and Chauna Kelly of Jamaica 2-0 (21-12, 21-13).
Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson of the United States
The other semifinal will see Atenas Gutierrez and Maria Celeste Ibarra of Mexico facing Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson of the United States.
Atenas Gutierrez and Maria Celeste Ibarra beat the local tandem of Bethania Almanzar and Esmeralda Ramirez 2-1 (21-15, 17-21, 15-8), while Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson also needed three sets to overcome Mexicans Esperanza Albarran and Abril Flores 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-6).
Earlier on Saturday, Dominicans Almanzar/Ramirez came from behind 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 15-8) against their compatriots Rosario/Payano; Mexicans Esperanza Albarran and Abril Flores topped Soler/Velasquez of El Salvador 2-0 (21-13, 21-13); Costa Rican Williams/Quesada also came from behind 2-1 (20-22, 21-16, 15-6) to beat Giron/Alvarado of Guatemala; and Petal Smith with Chauna Kelly of Jamaica overpowered Delapenha/Powery of Cayman Islands 2-0 (21-3, 21-8).
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, October 1, 2022.- Oscar Jose Martinez and Francisco De Jesus of Dominican Republic advanced to the Men’s semifinals of the fourth stop of the 2022 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour of Punta Cana in a comeback win over Franklyn Flores and Armando Guatemala of El Salvador 2-1 (18-21, 21-10, 15-12).
Martinez and De Jesus will go up against Timothy Brewster and Kyle Friend of the United States in Sunday’s semifinals, who downed Mexicans Jorge Barajas and Ricardo Galindo 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) in the quarterfinal round.
In the other semifinal, Cuban duo of Noslen Díaz and Jorge Luis Alayo will meet Canadians Jake MacNeil and William Russell.
Díaz and Alayo advanced without difficulties defeating Sheldon Descartes and Joseph Clercent of St. Lucia 2-0 (21-11, 21-5), while MacNeil and Russell prevailed 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) against Guatemalan duo Andy Leonardo Blanco and Luis García.
The final four pairs had reached the quarterfinals winning their pools on the first day of the event.
Earlier on Saturday, to advance into quarterfinals, Sheldon Descartes and Joseph Clercent of St. Lucia beat Adrian/Josiah of Antigua and Barbuda 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) and Guatemalan Andy Blanco alongside Luis García took a 2-0 (21-0, 21-1) win against Hawkins/Simmons of Turks and Caicos.
While Jorge Barajas and Galindo of Mexico defeated Daniel Dyner and Bryan Monge of Costa Rica 2-0 (21-17, 21-13); and Franklyn Flores with Armando Guatemala of El Salvador overpowered Morales Monsalve/Tubben of Bonaire 2-0 (21-6, 21-6).
Lodz, Poland, October 1, 2022.- The Serbian team beat the United States team, giving them their first loss in this Women’s Volleyball World Cup.
The Serbs defeated the US team in straight sets with a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-15) to leave the Americans with a 4-1 record in the tournament. The Serbs outperformed the United States in attacks (38-30), in blocks (13-1), while in services both teams had 3 apiece.
For Serbia Tijana Boskovic had 25 points and Jovana Stevanovic and Sara Lozo added 8 each. For the United States, Kara Bajema scored 6 points and Andrea Drews and Haleigh Washington added 5 points respectively.
Serbia ends this preliminary phase of the World Cup without defeat with a record of 5-0.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, October 1, 2022.- The Puerto Rican team obtained its second victory of the tournament after defeating the Kenyan team in the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
Brittany Abercrombie and Karina Ocasio contributed 20 and 13 points respectively to the winning cause, while for the Kenyans Veronica Oluoch added 22 points and Edith Mukuvilani added 12 points.
Puerto Rico finished the preliminary phase with a 2-3 record at the Women’s Volleyball World Championship held jointly in the Netherlands and Poland.
Lodz, Poland, October 1, 2022.- The Canadian team got its second victory in this Women’s Volleyball World Championship at the hands of the team from Germany.
After losing the first two sets, the Canadian team was able to recover to defeat the German team 3-2 (12-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-18, 15-9) and thus put their record at 2-3 in the World Cup.
The Canadians outperformed in attacks (63-61) and in services (6-4) while in blocks both teams had a total of 9.
For Canada Alexa Gray contributed 25 points, Kiera Van Ryk 19 and Hilary Howe 12. For Germany Lina Alsmeier and Hanna Orthmann added 16 points per head.
Gdansk, Poland, October 1, 2022.- The Thai team defeated the Dominican Republic team in a match that extended to the maximum of five sets.
With strong attacks, the Thais overcame the Dominican team (75-69) to beat them with a score of 3-2 (31-29, 16-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11) and give them their second defeat in this Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
For Thailand, Ajcharaporn Kongyot scored 26 points and Pimpichaya Kokram added another 25. For the Dominican Republic, left-hander Gaila González added 28 points and Bethania de la Cruz and Brayelin Martínez had 21 and 16 points, respectively.
The Dominican Republic now has a 3-2 record in this World Cup event.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, September 30, 2022.- Canadian women duos of Lea Monkhouse and Molley McBain in pool A and Amanda Harnett with Marie-Alex Bélanger in pool D opened strong the fourth stage of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour in Punta Cana, winning their two matches.
Monhouse and McBain won pool A defeating Angel Williams and Kianny Araya of Costa Rica 2-0 (21-6, 21-13) as well as Dominican duo of Jeneiry Rosario and Julibeth Payano 2-0 (21-13, 21-13).
On the other hand, Harnett/Bélanger controlled pool D beating Kwansia Carr/Tyke Hawkins of Antigua and Barbuda 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) but then worked hard recovering from losing the first set against Mexicans Esperanza Albarran and Abril Flores 2-1 (26-28, 21-19, 15-8).
Earlier on Friday, Albarran/Flores (MEX) downed Anjia Delapenha/Ileann Powery of Cayman Islands 2-0 (21-3, 21-14).
The other Mexican duo, Atenas Gutierrez alongside Maria Celeste Ibarra dominated pool B over Dominicans Paniagua/Martinez 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) and Jamaicans Petal Smith/ Chauna Kelly 2-0 (21-11, 21-19); with Smith/Kelly coming from a tough win against Yvonne Soler and Sofía Velasquez of El Salvador 2-1 (11-21, 21-13, 15-13).
Also, with two solid victories and winning pool C were team USA of Molly Turner and Madelyne Anderson. The Americans first won to Dominicans Almanzar/Ramirez 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) and then to Natalia Giron and Paola Alvarado of Guatemala 2-0 (21-12, 21-15).
Giron and Alvarado earlier beat Melanie Valenciana/Andrea Csaszi of U.S. Virgin Islands 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).
Pool-play resumes on Saturday morning, with pool winners and second places advancing into the knock-out round to take place later in the day.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, September 30, 2022.- Duos of Canada, Cuba, United States, and the Dominican Republic advance to play-offs winning their pools at the Punta Cana Beach Volleyball Tournament, the 4th stage of the 2022 NORCECA Beach Tour.
Dominicans Oscar Martinez and Francisco De Jesus Goris took pool A dominating Daryl Franklyn/Asmond Franklyn of St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2-0 (21-16, 21-6) and Adrian Constant/Jahsun Josin of Antigua and Barbuda 2-0 (21-6, 21-15).
Tournament favorites Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo from Cuba had no difficulties overpowering pool B beating Scott Hawkins/Sebastian Simmons of Turks and Caicos 2-0 (21-0, 21-3) followed by a 2-0 (21-3, 21-5) victory against Luiyi E. Morales/Koen Tubben of Bonaire.
Finishing first place in pool C, the Canadian duo of Jake MacNeil and William Russell who first downed Sheldon Descartes and Joseph Clercent of St. Lucia 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) and then triumphed over Jorge Barajas and Ricardo Galindo of Mexico 2-0 (21-19, 21-12), who earlier had beaten Jesario Ebanks/Jesper Barrozo of Cayman Islands by 2-0 (21-6, 21-7).
Timothy Brewster and Kyle Friend of the United States topped pool D defeating two Central American teams; first Adrian Guatemala and Franklyn Flores of El Salvador 2-0 (21-8, 21-11) and Guatemala’s Andy Leonardo Blanco with Luis García 2-0 (21-16, 21-15). Blanco and Garcia prevailed over Andrzej Ozarski/Cullen Diehl of U.S. Virgin Islands 2-0 (21-12, 21-12).
Second places of each group will advance into the elimination round when pool-play resumes on Saturday morning.
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, September 30, 2022.- The fourth stop of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour kicked off with resounding success at Punta Cana Beach in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic.
In the women’s branch, Canada was 4-0, Dominican Republic 1-2, Costa Rica 0-1, Mexico 3-1, Jamaica 1-1, El Salvador 0-1, Virgin Islands 0-1, Grand Cayman 0-1, Guatemala 0-1 and United States 2-0.
In the men’s division, the Dominican Republic won its two matches 2-0, Costa Rica 0-1, Antigua 0-1, Nicaragua 0-3, Cuba 2-0, Bonaire 1-1, Mexico 1-1, Canada 2-0, Grand Cayman 0-1, Guatemala 1-2, United States 2-0, Virgin Islands 1-1, El Salvador 0-1.
The NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour awards points to participating teams to qualify for the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador and the Pan American Games in Chile, both events to be held in 2023.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 30, 2022.- The NORCECA Confederation, especially our Beach Volleyball Department is pleased to announce the first edition of the U23 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Tour to start in Cayman Islands from October 27-31.
All National Federations members of the NORCECA Confederation have been invited to participate in this first edition of the event, which will consist of a maximum of sixteen teams per gender.
National teams and players registered for the competition will accumulate FIVB ranking points, accountable for other international events, as well as seedings for the following stages of the U23 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Tour.
Since 2009 Cayman Islands has joined efforts with NORCECA organizing the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Tour and on this occasion becoming the first hosting country of the inaugural U23 Beach Continental event.
Indhira Ramírez, NORCECA Beach Volleyball Department Director explained that with the creation of the NORCECA U23 Beach Volleyball Tour we will be establishing the under-age ranking for the qualification to FIVB world competitions as well as multisport events “this was necessary to increase the under-age group competition at a continental level and to create our regional ranking, in addition to contribute to beach volleyball development”.
Lodz, Poland, September 30, 2022.- The United States continued to roll down the road to victory at the Women’s Volleyball World Championship after beating Germany.
The Americans took advantage of 22 opponent errors to crush the German team in straight sets with a score of 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 26-24), widely outperforming them in attacks (39-25) and in services (11 -0).
Anna Stevenson with 12 points and Andrea Drews with 9 were the highlights for the United States team, while Germany’s KimberlyDrewniok had 11 points and Marie Scholzel, Laura Emonts and Monique Strubbe added 5 each.
Lodz, Poland, September 30, 2022.- Canada played its fourth match this Friday against Bulgaria, getting its second victory in this Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The Canadians needed four sets to get out of the big door against the Bulgarians, defeating them with a score of 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 25-20, 25-15), surpassing them in attacks (68-47) and in services. (5-2) while both teams were equal in blocks with 5 apiece.
Kiera Van Ryk with 22 points, Alexa Gray with 19 and Hilary Howe with 17 were the most outstanding for Canada, while for Bulgaria the best were Elitsa Atanasijevic with 18 points and Miroslava Paskova who added 16.
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic, September 29, 2022.- The fourth stop of the 2022 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour kicks off on Friday in Punta Cana with 32 participating teams from 17 countries.
A total of sixteen teams per gender, divided into pools of four, confirmed their registration during the general technical meeting chaired by NORCECA President Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz, divided in four pools.
In the men’s division Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Luis Alayo won the season’s first event in Aguascalientes and finished third at the second stop held in Varadero.
Friday’s pool-play action starts at 8:00 (local time), with 24 matches scheduled throughout the day.
The NORCECA Tour grants important ranking points as part of the qualification for the multisport events of 2023, the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador and the Pan American Games in Chile.
ANT Adrian Constant/Jahsun Josin; BON Luiyi E. Morales/Koen Tubben; CAN Jake MacNeil/William Russell; CAY Jesario Ebanks/Jesper Barrozo; CRC Daniel Dyner/Bryan Monge; CUB Noslen Diaz/Jorge Luis Alayo; DOM Oscar Jose Martinez/Francisco De Jesus Goris; ESA Franklin Flores/Armando Guatemala; GUA Andy Leonardo/Luis Garcia; MEX Jorge Barajas/Ricardo Galindo; NCA Ruben Mora/Dany Lopez; LCA Sheldon Descartes/Joseph Clercent; VIN Daryl Franklyn/Asmond Franklyn; TCI Scott Hawkins/Sebastian Simmons; USA Timothy Brewster/Kyle Friend; ISV Andrzej Ozarski/Cullen Diehl.
Gdansk, Poland, September 29, 2022.- The Dominican Republic worked hard to defeat the Polish team in four sets and thus achieve their third victory in the Championship.
The Caribbean Queens team dispatched the Poles with a score of 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21) to put their record at 3-1 in this World Cup tournament.
Brayelin Martínez was the best for the Dominicans with 20 points followed by Bethania de la Cruz who contributed 18 and Jineiry Martínez who helped with 15 points. For the Polish team, the most outstanding were Magdalena Stysiak with 23 points and Olivia Rosanski with 16.
Arnhem, Netherlands, September 29, 2022.- Puerto Rico achieved its first victory in this World Cup after beating the Cameroon team in its fourth match.
The Puerto Ricans only needed three sets to defeat the Cameroon team 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-11). Puerto Rico outperformed the Cameroon team in attacks (46-31), in blocks (6-5) and in services (6-4).
Veteran Karina Ocasio was the best for the Puerto Ricans with 13 points, followed by Stephanie Enright with 11 and Diana Reyes and Neira Ortiz who had 10 each. For Cameroon Simone Bikatal and Carine Blamdai were the best with 11 goals respectively.
Lodz, Poland, September 29, 2022.- The Canadian team got its first victory in the Women’s Volleyball World Championship at the hands of the Kazakhstan team.
The Canadians vastly dominated in spikes (45-21), blocks (11-2) and serves (5-0) to easily defeat Kazakhstan in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-11). ).
For Canada, Kiera Van Ryk added 18 points, while Hilary Howe contributed 12. For Kazakhstan, the best were Tatyana Nikitina with 8 points and Kristina Belova with 6.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 28, 2022.- The team from the Netherlands handed the team from Puerto Rico the third loss on the sixth day of competition of the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
In a match that lasted four sets, the Netherlands defeated Puerto Rico 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-15), thus leaving the Puerto Ricans with a negative record of 0-3.
A trio of players from the Netherlands Juliet Lohuis, Anne Buijs and Nika Daalderop added 16 points apiece to give their team the victory, while for Puerto Rico Brittany Abercrombie led with 18 points, Karina Ocasio with 15 and Neira Ortiz with 14.
Gdansk, Poland, September 28, 2022.- In a tight match, the Turkish team dealt their first setback in this World Championship to the Queens of the Caribbean.
The Turks beat the Dominican Republic team in five sets with a score of 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-18, 16-25, 15-13). Turkey was better in attacks (61-49), while the Dominicans outperformed them in blocks (12-9) and in services (6-4).
For Turkey Ebrar Karakurt had 29 points and Zehra Gunes contributed 11 in the victory. For the Dominican Republic Brayelin Martínez and Gaila González added 20 points respectively.
Gdansk, Poland, September 27, 2022.- The Dominican Republic team won its second win in the same number of matches after beating Croatia in the Women’s World Championship.
The Queens of the Caribbean beat the Croatian team in straight sets with a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-21). The Dominican Republic was superior to the Croatians in attacks (48-37), in blocks (7-4) and in services (2-1).
Yonkaira Peña and Brayelín Martínez were the top scorers for Las Reinas with 15 points each, while Gaila González added 13. For Croatia, Samanta Fabris had 8 points followed by Lucija Mlinar who added 8 points.
The next commitment of the Dominican Republic is this September 28 against the Turkish team in the city of Gdansk, Poland.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 26, 2022.- The United States team maintained its unbeaten record by beating the Canadian team in its second appearance in this World Championship.
The United States did not need more than 3 sets to beat the Canadian team 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-15), which suffered its second loss in the tournament.
For the Americans, the best were Alexandra Frantti and Andrea Drews with 15 and 14 points respectively. For Canada Kiera Van Ryk contributed 15 15 points and Alexa Gray added 9.
The next meetings of both teams will be in Lodz, Poland on September 29 when the United States faces Bulgaria and Canada faces Kazakhstan.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 26, 2022.- The Puerto Rican team fell again in an electrifying clash against Italy at the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
The Italians defeated the Puerto Ricans with a score of 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 26-24) surpassing them in attacks 50-33 and in blocks 11-7 while Puerto Rico was better in services 6-0.
Paola Egonu with 19 points, Elena Pietrini with 15 and Caterina Bosetti with 10 were the most notable for Italy, while Brittany Abercrombie and Stephanie Enright stood out for Puerto Rico with 19 and 9 points respectively.
The next commitment of the Puerto Ricans will be on September 28 when they will face the Netherlands.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 26, 2022.- The VI version of the Continental Beach Volleyball Circuit will be held in Los Corales, Punta Cana from September 30 to October 2 of this year with the participation of 32 teams from 18 countries.
The director of the National Beach Volleyball Program, who is also technical vice president of the Dominican Volleyball Federation (FEDOVOLI), Amós Anglade, stressed that after Hurricane Fiona passed through the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, everything will be ready to host the participating teams and guaranteed the success of the event.
Among the countries that will see action at the event are Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala and Suriname, among others.
The event that has been held since 2015 in the east of the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana) has the endorsement of the Dominican Volleyball Federation and the North Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) awards points to the participating teams for qualify for the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in El Salvador and the XIX Pan American Games in Chile 2023.
Arnhem, the Netherlands, September 25, 2022.- The Canadian team succumbed to the Serbian team in their debut at the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.
Canada, one of the four NORCECA representatives participating in the competition, was defeated by Serbia with a score of 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-20) to fail in its first match of the fair. Serbia outperformed Canada in attacks (40-31), in serves (9-4) and in blocks (7-6).
The most outstanding players for Serbia were Tijana Boskovic with 23 points and Brankica Mihajlovic with 10, while for the Canadians Alexa Gray stood out with 14 and Kiera Van Ryk with 13.
The next commitment of the Canadian team will be this September 26 against the United States team.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 24, 2022.- In their first match of the Women’s World Championship for Women, the United States carried the victory against the Kazakhstan team.
The United States vastly outscored Kazakhstan 47-24, blocked 5-3 and served 6-2 to easily beat them in three sets 25-16, 25-13, 25-22.
For the Americans Alexandra Frantti added 14 points while Andrea Drews and Kelsey Robinson added 13 and 12 points respectively. Tatyana Nikitina was the best for Kazakhstan with 10 points followed by Kristina Belova who added 9.
The next commitment of the Americans is on September 26 when they will face Canada in the first phase of this competition.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, September 24, 2022.- The General Consul of the Dominican Republic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Yoselin García Rodríguez, presented a special recognition to NORCECA President Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz on the occasion of the 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championship.
Prior to the debut of the Dominican Republic against South Korea in the World Championship in Amsterdam, García Rodríguez presented a plaque to Marte Hoffiz in recognition of his valuable contribution to the development and world positioning of Dominicans Women’s Volleyball.
Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz is the President of the Dominican Republic women’s national team project, placing the senior team as number 8 in the World Ranking.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 24, 2022.- The Dominican Republic began its participation in the Women’s Volleyball World Championship with a resounding victory against Korea.
The Caribbean Queens easily disposed of the Korean team in consecutive sets with a score of 25-19, 25-12, 25-15 in phase 1 of this competition. Dominican was better in attacks 42-32, in blocks 13-3 and in services 7-4.
The left-handed Gaila González was the most outstanding for The Queens with 17 points followed by Yonkaira Peña who added 11 units. For the Korean team, the best were Seonwoo Lee with 9 points and Jeongah Park with 7.
Arnhem, The Netherlands, September 24, 2022- The Puerto Rican team was defeated by Belgium in its first appearance in the Women’s World Championship.
The Belgians easily dominated the Puerto Ricans in straight sets with a score of 25-15, 27-25, 25-15 to score their first victory in the tournament.
Britt Herbots and Marlies Janssens led the Belgian attack with 25 and 14 points respectively. For Puerto Rico, the top scorers were Brittany Abercrombie with a total of 20 points and Stephanie Enright with 7.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 22, 2022 – The Women’s World Volleyball Championship will be held geographically between Poland and the Netherlands.
In the fair, 24 countries will see action, being the representatives as assets of NORCECA: United States, Dominican Republic, Canada and Puerto Rico.
The reports of the matches of the NORCECA region participating in the competition that begins on September 23 and will last until October 15 will be published on this information site.
The event kicks off with Poland vs. Croatia and the Netherlands vs. Kenya, and the next day Turkey vs. Thailand, Belgium vs. Puerto Rico, Italy vs. Cameroon, Dominican Republic vs. Korea, United States vs. Kazakhstan, and Brazil vs. Czech Republic.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 18, 2022.- The XXVINORCECA Congress 2022 was held virtually on September 16 and 17 with fruitful results which included welcoming words from FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F°.
The Executive Committee and Board of Directors met on Friday September 16 and representatives from the 41 National Federations members of the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation met during two working sessions held on Saturday 17.
NORCECA President Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz, gave the opening words indicating “our Confederation is back to its regular competitions after the forced recess due to the global Pandemic Covid-19, achieving its financial independence thanks to the efforts of many; in addition to our open attitude to always listen and discuss each and every proposal presented by our NORCECA members”.
Dr. Ary Graça addressed the Congress explaining that the FIVB hasn’t stopped its efforts to support every National Federation during the inexorable forces of change that the world of volleyball has been challenged with “I invite you all to work with us together through the FIVB Empowerment program which has a financial support thanks to commercial opportunities from sponsors, promotors and TV and marketing rights”.
Also addressing the Congress was Centro Caribe Sports President Luis Mejía Oviedo, as well as FIVB General Manager Fabio Acevedo.
Marte Hoffizz highlighted that the working agenda, the 2020 & 2021 NORCECA Internal Financial Reports and External Audits by Ernst & Young, as the working NORCECA commissions reports, were available ahead on the Confederations’ website for its efficient discussion during the Congress.
It’s needed to say that they were all unanimously approved by the present Congress.
The NORCECA/FIVB Volleyball Regional Development Center in Dominican Republic also presented a full report, underlining that it is the only development center in the world authorized by the FIVB to carry out face to face the Level III Coaches Course that concluded a couple of days ago.
Prof. Nelson Ramírez, Director of the Center announced that a Data Volleyball and Opponent Analyzing Course will be held next November.
The Congress approved the proposal presented by Ariel Sainz, NORCECA First Executive Vice-President and supported by Félix Sabio, AFECAVOL President, of allowing Guatemala’s national volleyball and beach volleyball to compete under the NORCECA flag in al the events organized by NORCECA, due to the recent suspension of its Olympic National Committee by the International Olympic Committee.
Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz presented the report he will be addressing during the 38th FIVB World Congress to be held from September 22-24 at Arnhem, Netherlands during the first phase of the FIVB Women’s World Championship, which explains the future actions that the Confederation will be executing for the development of volleyball in the region.
In his closing words, President Marte Hoffiz said “on your behalf, as your representative at the FIVB I will support all those activities that guarantee the development and promotion of volleyball of our Confederation, ensuring the necessary conditions to carry them out; I will see you all in a couple of days for the 38th FIVB Congress”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 15, 2022.- Costa Rica was crowned AFECAVOL Boys’ U19 Three-Time undefeated Champion beating El Salvador 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-16) on Thursday at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Costa Rica won their eight AFECAVOL title, their third in a row, with perfect 5-0 record and 25 points, with 15 sets in favor and none against, strengthening their supremacy in the age-group category, since the creation of the event in 1982 they have reached the Central American podium.
Costa Rica lost three set points (24-19) before winning the second set and coming from behind in the third before becoming undefeated champion.
Costa Rica prevailed over El Salvador in every element of the game, attacks (38-24), blocks (7-2) and serves (4-2). Both teams committed a similar number of unforced errors, Costa Rica with 24 and El Salvador with 26.
David Cordoba of Costa Rica spikes against El Salvador
Two players of Costa Rica scored double-digits, opposite hitter and team captain David Cordoba with 18 points on 15 attacks, two blocks and one ace, and outside hitter Stanley Grant with 14 points from 13 attacks and one ace.
The leading scorer of El Salvador was outside hitter Rafael Vargas with 8 points, joined by outside hitter Marlon Solorzano with 7 points.
Robertocarlo Argüello, head coach Costa Rica: “We were prepared for a complicated match because they (El Salvador) had nothing to lose, and our closing could have been difficult. On our way from Costa Rica, we were determined to go back undefeated, with 15 sets in favor and none against. Thank God all the effort of this team during practices, training camps in Costa Rica gave its fruits”.
Gerardo Hernández, head coach of El Salvador: “I am glad about my boys, for the eleven players this was a great experience competing at an international event. At the beginning of the tournament, we had hopes for more, but the level of play of the under-19 category in Central America has improved, which is good to compete outside our region. We are leaving satisfied with the job done, the boys enjoyed themselves and learned a lot from all the matches”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 15, 2022.- Guatemala finished AFECAVOL Boys’ U19 Sub Champion defeating Nicaragua 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-11) at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Guatemala ended the evento with 3-2 record and 17 points, winning their seventh silver medal in this age-group, their fourth in a row. Nicaragua finished with a 3-2 record and 11 points: waiting for the result between Belize and Honduras for their final position in the tournament.
The first set was the most challenging, but Guatemala was unstoppable in the next two; in the second set jumping to an 11-2 advantage to move forward in the third set for a huge 21-8 advantage.
El primer set fue el más disputado, pero Guatemala fue imparable en los siguientes dos; en el segundo saltando a una ventaja de 11-2 para luego entrar al tercero alcanzando una ventaja de 21-8.
Guatemala held a 27-24 advantage in attacks and 8-5 in blocks, while Nicaragua held a 5-4 margin in serves. Guatemala scored 36 points from Nicaraguan errors and handed out 16.
Outside hitter Roberto Recinos scored 9 points as Guatemala’s leading scorer. Als contributing in the win was outside hitter Pedro Villatoro and middle blocker Sergio Paz with 8 points each.
Scoring a match-high was Nicaraguan Evans Solis with 14 points, all on kills; accompanied by setter Cristhoper Castillo with 8 tallies.
Luis Fernando Castañeda, head coach of Guatemala: “We were aware of the importance of this game, maybe the most important one of the competition, we didn’t want to be left out of winning a medal. The boys went out with all they had and played good volleyball; I recognize their effort. This is the result of the harmony between the athletes and the coaching staff, my assistant (my father) who has a great lot of experience and the physiotherapist who was always taking care of the athletes’ well-being”.
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua: “Every match is different, the opponent came out to win and they have a lot of experience. We are a young team who needs continuity because they are capable, but the pressure was too much, they couldn’t handle it mentally”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 15, 2022.- Belize won the bronze medal at the XIV AFECAVOL Boys’ U19 Central American Championship after defeating Honduras 3-0 (26-24, 25-9, 25-11) at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Belize ended the tournament with a 3-2 record, the same as Nicaragua, but with 14 points against 11 of the Nicaraguan team.
Honduras shook Belize in a challenging first set, but not enough to stop their strength in the next two sets.
Belize led attacks 27-19, blocks 11-2 and the service point by a slim 3-2 margin. Belize committed 21 unforced errors and Honduras a total of 35.
Opposite hitter Preston Smith scored 15 points for Belize, from 12 attacks, two blocks and one ace, followed by outside hitter Eleazar Mejía with 11 points on 6 attacks and 5 blocks.
Honduras top scorer was middle blocker Leonardo Villegas with 8 points.
Albert Hummes, head coach of Belize: “First of all Happy Independence Day to Honduras and for us it’s the celebration of our first medal in the history of the youth category. I am very happy for my guys, this is a great reward for their hard work. We played day by day and we were expecting a good outcome”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 14, 2022.- Guatemala improved their record 2-2 after defeating Honduras 3-0 (25-19, 25-9, 25-20) at the XIV Boys’ U19 AFECAVOL Central American Championship at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
On the last day of competition Guatemala with a record of 2-2 and twelve points will face Nicaragua (3-1) with eleven points, with the possibility of winning a medal. Honduras has a 0-4 record and closes against Belize (2-2).
Guatemala came from behind in the third set (8-12) reaching an even 14, advancing to finish in straight sets.
Guatemala prevailed over Honduras with a 28-24 margin in attacks and a huge 10-1 advantage in service points, as well as 8-1 in blocks. Guatemala committed 22 unforced errors and Honduras 28.
Middle blocker Sergio Paz of Guatemala was the best scorer of the game with 18 points on 6 kills, 3 blocks and the most aces with 9 points.
Outside hitter Leonardo Villegas of El Salvador finished with 12 points, all from kills.
Adolfo Rivas, captain of Guatemala: “We all had a good attitude, celebrating every point and each player did their role on the court. We are closing strong and tomorrow we will give our all.
Luis Fernando Castañeda, head coach of Guatemala: “Thanks to the boys’ effort we are in the battle for a medal. The tournament has been strong, we started with defeats, but we went on improving our rhythm of play to fight to reach the podium with two straight wins in a row. We close with Nicaragua who have experienced players from their competitive national league, and we want to do things well tomorrow”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 14, 2022.- Costa Rica is already Three-Time Champion with one day left of competition after defeating Belize 3-0 (25-11, 28-26, 25-22) at the XIV Boys’ U19 AFECAVOL Central American Championship.
With a 4-0 record and 20 points, no team can catch up with Costa Rica; tomorrow they face El Salvador.
Belize’s reaction after falling in the first set was strong, with strength in attacks and losing two set points that Costa Rica brushed away with great effort to win the second set. In the third set, Belize recovered from a four-point deficit (16-20) but it wasn’t enough to extend the game.
Costa Rica did better in blocking 12-3, while Belize dominated in attacks 32-25; both teams scored 3 points from serves. Costa Rica scored 38 points from Belizean errors and handed out 21.
Costa Rica Three-Time U19 AFECAVOL Central American Champion
Opposite hitter and team captain David Córdoba, alongside outside hitter Stanley Grant with 11 points apiece, and middle blocker Jeremy Venega with 10 points led Costa Rica’s scoring offense.
The top scorer of the match was outside hitter Eleazar Mejia of Belize with 19 points.
David Córdoba, captain of Costa Rica: “It’s a great joy. Since leaving Costa Rica our mentality was to be champions once more; thank God it is a three-time championship win. Tomorrow we are going for the win and be undefeated champion, that’s our second goal”.
Robertocarlo Argüello, head coach of Costa Rica: “It was a great pressure because we were looking for a hat-trick and we are reaching one of our goals, tomorrow we wish to close with a win to be undefeated. We prepared well to be here, the boys were tough in the second set, they were cold headed, their blocking was steady against Belize’s powerful attacks, and they complied to reach the goal”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 14, 2022.- Nicaragua came from behind to beat El Salvador 3-2 (20-25, 15-25, 25-17, 25-12, 15-8) at the XIV Boys’ U19 AFECAVOL Central American Championship being held at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
This was the second occasion that Nicaragua recovered from an 0-2 set deficit to come out on top in five sets. Nicaragua now has a 3-1 record and eleven points to be in route to reaching the podium. El Salvador drops to 1-3 and has eight points.
Nicaragua dominated the categories of attacks (50-34) and serves (13-8), both teams scored on 7 blocks. Nicaragua scored 30 points from El Salvador’s errors and handed out 38.
Angelo Guadamuz of Nicaragua spikes against El Salvador
Opposite player Victor Bermudez and outside hitter Evans Solis contributed with 21 points each in Nicaragua’s victory; Solís on 5 points from aces. Also, middle blocker Angelo Guadamuz collected 11 points.
Middle blocker Ricardo Alegría was the top scorer of El Salvador with 16 points, joined by outside hitter Rafael Vargas with 13 points.
On the last day Nicaragua (3-1) will face Guatemala (1-2) and El Salvador (1-3) against Costa Rica (3-0).
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua: “We are having difficulties to get into rhythm from the beginning, this is hurting us, it seems like we are the team of five sets. This game was crucial, with the win we are in the medals, tomorrow we just need to win and with one loss we will be sub champions”.
Ricardo Alegría, top scorer of El Salvador: “We gave all our effort, it worked in the beginning. This is part of the game that your opponent responds. We enjoyed it and we must be happy”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 13, 2022.- Defending Champion Costa Rica is the only unbeaten team at the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL after defeating Honduras 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-20) at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Costa Rica stands with a perfect 3-0 win-loss record and 15 points. Honduras has 0-3.
Honduras surprised Costa Rica evening the scores on several occasions in the second set and recovered from an eight-point deficit (14-22) in the third.
Costa Rica led 35-24 in the attacking category, 9-2 in blocking and 2-1 in aces, committing 25 unforced errors against 29.
Keylor Rodriguez of Costa Rica spikes against Honduras
Outside hitter Stanley Grant led Costa Rica with 12 points, joined by middle blocker Jeremy Venega who contributed with 9 points, as well as team captain David Cordoba and middle blocker Keylor Rodriguez with 8 tallies each.
Outside hitters Oscar Pineda and Jonathan Mendoza scored 8 points apiece for Honduras.
On Thursday Costa Rica (3-0) will play against Belize (2-1) and Honduras (0-3) goes against Guatemala (1-2).
Robertocarlo Argüello, head coach of Costa Rica: “The fans motivated Honduras. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and what we needed was to add points to keep a margin so they couldn’t get too close. The guys sustained well, but it was hard, they were pressured, and we made some adjustments to finish the game. Tomorrow, we have a difficult opponent (Belize), but we have our goal clear, and we will battle for it, we are going with all we have”.
Víctor Manuel Rodas, head coach of Honduras: “We improved in the second set by trying some changes in positions, today Leo Villegas played as opposite to help us with blocking, and it worked. Our best skill has been reception and today it visibly improved, we were able to stabilize our game. I hope this is the beginning of our improvement and we must continue forward”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 13, 2022.- Nicaragua came from behind to beat Belize 3-2 (15-25, 19-25, 25-23, 29-27, 15-13) at the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL being played at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Nicaragua improved their record 2-1 with a total of eight points; Belize dropped their record 2-1 and has nine points.
Nicaragua lost its outside hitter Evans Solís who suffered an injury on the head during the second set, but it wasn’t an obstacle to stop Belize’s strength. Before their dramatic win, Belize lost two match points in the fourth set (26-25 y 27-25), while Nicaragua failed two set points to reach the tie-break (24-23 y 25-24).
Niaragua’s blocking prevailed that of Belize 13-6, as well as service points 4-3, committing 48 unforced errors. Belize was superior in attacks 56-36 and committed a total of 50 errors.
Opposite hitter Víctor Bermudez led Nicaragua’s attack with 13 points from 12 kills and one block. Setter Cristhoper Castillo and middle blocker Edu Urbina added 11 points each.
Outside hitter Eleazar Mejia of Belize led all scorers with 32 points, the most in the tournament. Outside hitter Malcolm Murillo and opposite hitter Preston Smith scored 11 points each.
On Wednesday Nicaragua (2-1) will play El Salvador (1-2) and Belize (2-1) will meet Costa Rica (2-0).
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua: “My team is young, so they still commit errors on the net and that led us to reach five sets. My boys responded well, we came back from 0-2, the changes worked out well and that puts us in the fight. That’s why I say it’s one match at a time”.
Albert Humes, head coach of Belize: “I am proud of my guys, they worked hard. I think one of our biggest problems today were our errors at the run and service at the time that we needed; it also showed that we need more practice matches in this kind of situation because the guys got tense which caused them to be tentative and that gave Nicaragua the momentum to build”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 13, 2022.- Guatemala scored its first win at the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL after defeating El Salvador 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-22) at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Guatemala improved their record to 1-2, for a total of seven points and El Salvador has the same record but with six points.
Guatemala dominated the first set, but in the following two sets they needed great effort to come from behind after El Salvador’s fast response.
The Guatemalan team prevailed over El Salvador 33-30 in attacks, 7-3 in blocks and 5-3 in aces, while committing 22 errors against 30 from El Salvador.
Outside hitter Pedro Villatoro with 10 points, middle blocker Sergio Paz with 9 points and outside hitter Roberto Recinos with 8 points led Guatemala’s attacks.
Outside hitter Rafael Vargas and middle blocker Ricardo Alegria were El Salvador’s leading scorers with 9 and 8 points respectively.
On the penultimate day of competition Guatemala (1-2) will face Honduras (0-2) and El Salvador (1-2) against Nicaragua (1-1).
Pedro Villatoro, top scorer of Guatemala: “we had a different mentality from the other two matches, we were determined to win 3-0 to add the necessary points to give us a chance to reach the podium. Our attitude was crucial, we were motivated”.
Rafael Vargas, top scorer of Nicaragua: “We didn’t react despite being ahead in the last two sets. I believe we were overconfident, and we lost energy. We couldn´t stabilize our serves like we did against Honduras. We need to be more focused for the next two matches, put the ball in play and try to score”.
Outside hitter Evans Solis of Nicaragua led all scorers with 25 points on 19 attacks, one block and 5 aces. Opposite hitter Victor Bermudez and setter Cristhoper Castillo contributed with 9 and 7 points respectively.
From Honduras, outside hitter Leonardo Villegas scored 6 points.
On Tuesday, Nicaragua (1-1) will face Belize (2-0) and Honduras (0-2) goes up against Costa Rica (2-0).
Cristopher García, captain of Nicaragua: “This victory was crucial for us, today we improved our attitude, we learned from yesterday’s loss. Today we were more confident”.
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua: “The team needed to gain trust, overcoming the pressure of the tournament was difficult after losing yesterday; today the victory was necessary. Each game is a final and we aren’t out of battling for a medal”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 12, 2022.- Belize remains undefeated after beating El Salvador 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 26-28, 25-10) at the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL being played at Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Belize has a 2-0 record and seven points, while El Salvador has 1-1 and six points after two days of competition.
Belize overcame a tough Salvadorian team that battled to extend the action, winning a dramatic third set after Belize lost two match points. Belize dominated the fourth set without complications, jumping to an early 8-1 lead from the beginning.
In numbers, Belize held a huge 46-29 advantage in attacks and 14-1 in serves, in blocking they scored one point more (3-7). Belize committed 44 unforced errors against 33 from El Salvador.
Outside hitter Eleazar Mejía of Belize, once again led all scorers with 26 points, on 20 points from attacks, 2 from blocks and 4 from serves, followed by opposite hitter Preston Smith with 16 points, on 10 attacks, 3 blocks and 3 serves; also, outside hitter Malcolm Murillo chipped in with 10 points.
Outside hitters Rafael Vargas and Marlon Solórzano led El Salvador with 13 and 10 points respectively.
On Tuesday, Belize (2-0) will face Nicaragua (0-1) and El Salvador (1-1) goes against Guatemala (0-2).
Nicanor Requena, captain of Belize: “We were prepared to face them, we watched them play yesterday and we were ready, we had our game plan. We lost a set, but we executed in the fourth set; it was a strong set for us. Our strongest weapon is our ability to grind when things get tough”.
Gerardo Hernández, head coach of El Salvador: “Belize is one of the strongest opponents, they have a great attack. The first two sets slipped out of our hands, the boys had ups and downs because of Belize’s strong attacks. We will continue to work for tomorrow’s performance, this is a short tournament, and we must be prepared”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 12, 2022.- Costa Rica earned their second win defeating Guatemala 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-18) at the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL being held at the Santa Rosa de Copan Gymnasium.
Costa Rica is undefeated 2-0 and has a total of 10 points, while Guatemala has no victories 0-2, with two points.
Costa Rica was more dominant in the second set, jumping to a huge 13-7 advantage with their blocking and that mentally affected the Guatemalan team.
Costa Rica led in blocking by a huge 17-3 margin in blocks; they also led 27-19 in attacks and 7-2 in serves. Guatemala committed fewer errors (24-28) than Costa Rica.
The top scorer of the game was outside hitter Grant Stanley of Costa Rica with 18 points from 11 attacks, 5 blocks and 2 aces. Also contributing to Costa Rica’s win was its captain David Córdoba with 9 puntos, who led in blocks with 6 points.
Opposite hitter Ferdinando González and middle blocker Theo Wandel scored 4 points each for Guatemala.
Deyshawn (10) and Antonio (8) of Costa Rica block Villatoro (1) Guatemala
On day three of competition, Costa Rica (2-0) will face Honduras (0-1) and Guatemala (0-2) meets El Salvador (1-0).
David Córdoba, captain of Costa Rica: “It was exciting today’s victory. We had faced Guatemala during the Pan American Cup, and we knew their game level. We played at our rhythm and came out with a good result”.
Luis Fernando Castañeda, head coach of Guatemala: “Costa Rica is an experienced team, they are good, and they complement each other well, everybody defends and attacks. We attacked strongly, but Costa Rica defended a lot. We will try to win our next three matches and see if there’s a chance to win a medal. This was an important game to get in the competition, after yesterday’s loss against Belize, who by the way is nice to see their level of play”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 11, 2022 – Dominican Gaila González won the Most Valuable Player award at the NORCECA Final Six Cup held at the Ricardo Gioriber Arias Volleyball Pavilion.
The Dominican left-hander concluded the tournament with 61 points helping Las Reinas del Caribe to win the gold medal. González was also the most outstanding in services with 13 aces and named Best Opposite.
Individual Awards Women’s Final Six Cup
Brayelín Martínez took the distinction of Best Spiker and best scorer while her partner Yonkaira Peña was the second most outstanding in that line and was also named Best Receiver.
Puerto Rican Neira Ortiz shone as the best blocker with 25 followed by Candida Arias who stopped the ball 13 times. Puerto Rican Shara Venegas was the Best Defender and Libero.
The captain of the Dominican team Niverka Marte was on the top of the setters with 21 setters.
SANTA ROSA DE COPÁN, Honduras, September 11, 2022.- El Salvador controlled Honduras 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-15) on the first day of competition of the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL at the Santa Rosa Copan Gymnasium.
El Salvador jumped to a comfortable advantage, leaving Honduras with little chances to recover throughout the game.
El Salvador ended with a huge 29-16 margin in attacks and 11-2 in service points, while Honduras prevailed in blocks 11-6. El Salvador committed 22 errors and Honduras 29.
Outside hitter Rafael Vargas of El Salvador led all scorers with 19 points on 13 attacks, one block and 5 aces, joined by outside hitter Marlon Solorzano with 10 points on 9 attacks and one ace.
With 6 points, outside hitter Leonardo Villegas led Honduras.
On day two of competition, El Salvador (1-0) faces Belize (1-0) and Honduras (0-1) against Nicaragua (0-1).
Gerardo Hernández, head coach of El Salvador: “We knew we had to battle against the host and being this our first game, we needed to shake off the nerves. We let Honduras commit the errors, we tried to pass the ball, the pressure was for Honduras and my boys gave their maximum trying not to fail in serves. We are glad about the result; we hope to keep the energy to score the necessary points”.
Miguel Angel Pagoaga, assistant coach of Honduras: “It’s hard, it hurts to fall at home. In the second set the team was down mentally, we tried to move the team, but it was complicated. These kids that never had competed internationally, the gym was full, and the pressure was too much, it was complicated”.
SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana, September 11, 2022.- The NORCECA/FIVB Regional Volleyball Development Center held the closing ceremony of the Level III Coaches Course that started on September 5th in Santo Domingo.
A total of 37 participants, from 14 countries won the Level III Coaches Course under the supervision the Director of the course the Spaniard Luis Muchaga and Cuban Instructor Francisco Cruz Jimenez, both appointed by the International Volleyball Federation FIVB.
The ceremony was presided by Cristobal Marte Hoffiz FIVB Vice President and President of the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation, alongside Amos Anglea Technical Vice President of the Dominican Volleyball Federation.
“I congratulate all the participants and exhort them to work in the development of volleyball in their countries, following your National Federation’s guidelines and that you can pass on all your knowledge to clubs and schools” said Cristobal Marte Hoffiz.
Closing ceremony, Cristobal Marte Hoffiz NORCECA President (center)
Marte Hoffiz stated that the NORCECA Confederation will continue to support the activities and courses proposed by the Development Center.
Also, Amos Anglade wished a great success to all the participants, hoping to see them back in Dominican Republic competing in charge of their national teams.
Prof. Nelson Jose Ramirez, Director of the NORCECA/FIVB Regional Volleyball Development Center said to be satisfied to carry out the course “this is the only Development Center that the FIVB has authorized to carry out courses on site, for which I thank the instructors for their great job”.
Prof. Ramirez made the announcement that the Development Center will have available in November courses of Level I Coaches and a Data Volley, Statistics and Analyzing the opponent.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 11, 2022.- Costa Rica beat Nicaragua 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-19) on day one of actions of the XIV Central American Championship
Despite Costa Rica’s strong dominance in the first set 6-0, Nicaragua recovered to give a balanced battle that finished in three consecutive sets for Costa Rica.
Costa Rica dominated all the elements of the game, attacks (25-19), blocks (13-4) and serves (7-4). Both committed a similar number of errors, Costa Rica (29) and Nicaragua (30).
Two players led Costa Rica’s scoring, outside hitter Stanley Grant with 15 points on 11 attacks, 3 blocks and one ace, and middle blocker David Barrantes with 11 points on 7 attacks, 3 blocks and one ace.
Outside hitter Evans Solís was Nicaragua’s top scorer with 10 points on 7 attacks and three points from serves.
On Monday, Costa Rica (1-0) will play against Guatemala (0-1) and Nicaragua (1-0) against the host Honduras.
Robertocarlo Argüello, head coach of Costa Rica: “Nicaragua’s process has been good, and we knew it was going to be hard. I believe that as a team we are united, with one year and half of work and demanding preparation, so I expected to win but not in consecutive sets”.
Gabriel Barrios, assistant coach of Nicaragua: “Costa Rica is the current champion, and we expected a difficult game. My team has lots of potential and the tournament has just started, nothing has been lost and we are focused on the medal”.
SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 11, 2022.- Belize opened the XIV Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of AFECAVOL with a 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 19-17) victory over Guatemala at the Santa Rosa Copan Gymnasium.
Belize overcame Guatemala after failing three match points before the dramatic five set finish to open the tournament.
Belize controlled Guatemala from the service line 17-7, as well as attacks 48-32 and 11-8 in blocks. Guatemala committed fewer errors (35-61).
Outside hitter Eleazar Mejia from Belize scored 30 points as the leading scorer of the match, on 16 attacks, one block and 13 points from serves; followed by opposite hitter Preston Smith with 21 points on 17 attacks and 4 blocks, and outside hitter Malcom Murillo with 12 points.
From Guatemala, opposite hitter Ferdinando González scored 12 points as their leading scorer.
On day two of the tournament, Belize will meet El Salvador and Guatemala against Costa Rica.
Eleazar Mejía, top scorer of Belize: “It was a nice game to open the tournament this way; our work had a good outcome. We are here to win this tournament. Most of my team members are new so they were shaken, I know that going forward we will make more progress”.
Alber Humes, head coach of Belize: “The hard work that these guys have been doing since March, a lot of effort from many people has paid off. You can see when they stayed focused, they came out strong”.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 10, 2022 – In a hard-fought match, the Dominican Republic managed to defeat the United States to win gold in the NORCECA Final Six Cup.
The Caribbean Queens beat the Americans with a score of 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 26-24), to finish the competition without losing a single set.
Brayelin Martinez stood out for the Dominicans, who had 20 points and Yonkaira Peña, who finished with 11. For the United States, the best player was Avery Skinner with 11 points.
Marcos Kwiek, entrenador de Republica Dominicana: Happy for the victory, thanks to the United States team for the excellent show they gave us. He made us play at a good level for us, that suits us a lot at this level, although the United States is a young team, they have very good players who put us in difficulties on several occasions during the game, but we were able to control and take the victory.
Michelle Chatman, coach of Unites States: That was so fun, it was an amazing oportunity for our Young players to get out there and play against such a veteran just amazing team that is preparing to go to the World Championship so it was so fun to be on the court and battle the entire match.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 10, 2022 – The Puerto Rican team only needed three sets to defeat the Cuban team and thus keep the Bronze medal.
The Puerto Ricans defeated the Mexicans in straight sets with a score of (25-16, 25-18, 25-XX) and thus finished in third position in the NORCECA Final Six.
Karina Ocasio and Brittany Abercrombie were the best scorers for the Puerto Ricans with 13-12 points respectively. For Cuba the best was Ailama Montalvo with 16 points.
Puerto Rico celebrates beating Cuba for the bronze medal
Natalia Valentin, Captain of Puerto Rico: I think that we executed our serve very well, we practiced a lot in that, we focused on the fact that if we did not take Cuba out of their comfort zone they had to play with all the players as everyone knows Cuba is a very athletic team with a lot of power we knew that our main weapon was the serve and we focused on that.
Gretell Moreno, Captain of Cuba: I feel very hurt because in the end I was able to give my best despite being hurt, the team really needed it and the Puerto Rican team played very disciplined, they hardly made any unforced errors so they were able to win more easily.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 9, 2022 – The Dominican Republic team defeated the Cuban team in straight sets to earn their pass to the final of the NORCECA Final Six Cup.
The Caribbean queens did not give the Cuban team a chance after beating them with a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-16).
For Las Reinas del Caribe the best were Gaila Gonzalez and Yonkaira Peña with 17 and 13 points respectively, while for Cuba Laura Suarez stood out with 9 points and Greisy Fine with 7.
Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: We prepared ourselves for Cuba’s aggressive game, we had a very close first set but I think that experience spoke for the rest of the match, Cuba is a young team that needs to be playing and it is in our best interest to raise their level because the more level teams have in the area will be much better for us.
Jorge Sosa, coach of Cuba: The Dominican serve was very well structured, our reception specialist did not let us play, she was the one who committed the most fouls today, we could not play with the clarity that we wanted in the mesh, that is our strength, they simply did not allow us to play.
The Dominican Republic will face the United States in the match for the highest medal of this event.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 9, 2022 – In an electrifying encounter, the United States team advanced to the gold medal match after beating Puerto Rico.
The Americans defeated the Puerto Ricans 3-1 with a score of (30-28, 26-28, 25-22, 26-24). For the United States, Danielle Drews and Stephanie Samedy were the best scorers, both with 21 points. For Puerto Rico Karina Ocasio and Brittany Abercrombie added 23 and 21 points respectively.
Avery Skinner, player of the United States: I think it was an amazing game for both teams it was a point to point match and for luck we could ended with the best part that was the victory.
Natalia Valentin, player of Puerto Rico: It is always difficult to play against the United States, their game system is very fast and they are agile players who have good blocking, today they defended us all the way, we tried to counterattack but we couldn’t make the ball bounce, definitely a good game for them.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 8, 2022 – In a very intense match, Canada managed to overcome the Mexican team and thus stay with the fifth position of the Final Six of the NORCECA Pan American series.
The Canadians had to battle through five sets to defeat the Mexico team 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, 16-14) to achieve the result obtained.
For Canada, the best were Melissa Langegger and Natasha Calkins with 16 points each, while Mexico had Aime Topete as their best scorer with 20.
Carolyn O´Dwyer, coach of Canada: I think the match was a Little bit like a roller coaster for both teams having up and downs in the hole game of course I´m happy that ended up with a win for us and that we showed up that we are a team that can win games.
Rafael Petry, coach of Mexico:In general, the game was very close, just like the previous one, both teams today were very similar, except for the sets in which both teams were under 20 points. I think that the first ball cost us a little more to be able to kill that first play action, I think that was the determining factor of the match.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 8, 2022 – The Dominican Republic concluded the preliminary round undefeated after beating the United States team in straight sets on the fifth day of competition.
The Queens of the Caribbean defeated the United States team this Thursday night in straight sets with a score of (25-19, 25-17, 25-19).
The Dominican Republic outperformed the United States in kills 51-30, in blocks 5-2 and in serves 4-1.
For the Caribbean Queens the best scorers were Brayelin Martinez and Gaila Gonzalez with 16 and 13 points respectively. For the United States, Danielle Drews was the best with 13.
Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: I think we achieved our first goal, which was to qualify first regardless of being undefeated, it was the first place we were looking for, now we have to keep working, now we have to play Cuba in the semifinals and if we lose that game, everything that has been done is lost.
Michelle Chatman, coach of United States: I think our team competed really well it was an awsome enviroment the fans were absolutely amazing playing against the Dominican Republic that is a team that is in preparartion for the World Championship and their pleyers really showed up in the difficult moments and thats how they won.
Canada waited until the end of the regular series to stamp their first win of the NORCECA Final Six of the Pan American Series.
They put aside the Mexican squad in straight sets by scores of 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 27-25on the middle contest of Thursday afternoon at the National Palace of Volleyball Ricardo Arias at Olympic Dominican Center.
Canadians Calkins, Attieh, Van Buskirk and Heppell led the North American side with 17, 13, 11 and 10, respectively to the success. Karina Flores finished with 10 for Mexico.
Melissa Langegger, captain of Canada: I think we show a lot of fight we trying prove us that we are a team and show what we can do and I think we really show that in our game today we executed well in every point and that gave us the victory.
Jocelyn Urias, captain of Mexico: We entered the court to win, to give it our all, obviously they also came with the same attitude, it was a very hard-fought match in all sets but Canada ended up getting the victory.
Cuba edged Puerto Rico 3-2 (23-25, 27-25, 22-25, 25-22, 13-15) to conclude the regular series of the NORCECA Final Six Pan American Volleyball Cup on Thursday afternoon at National Palace Ricardo Arias or Dominican Olympic Center.
The Cubans finished with a 2-4 win-losses and 10 points, while de Puerto Ricans totaled 16 points fruit of 2 victory and 3 defeats.
Despite losing the five-setter, Puerto Rico dominated in aces scores with a 10-4 difference and established a 19-16 margin in blocks. Cuba led the scores in attacks 68-58.
Claudia Tarin and Ailama Cesé contributed 23 and 22 points, respectively, for Cuba and Fine contributed 19 tallies. For Puerto Rico, Collazo totaled 23 and Stephanie Enright added 22 points.
Jorge Sosa, coach of Cuba: The strength of our team is the offensive elements, today Cuba did not win nor did Puerto Rico lose, today I won volleyball because a team of young girls that you manage to reach a fifth set, that is development. It was a game with high scores and a lot of intensity, Puerto Rico played well but in the end things turned out better for us.
Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico: Cuba had a very good game, they were very stable in reception and in attacks they are very powerful, we rotated the players a bit, we rested those who had played every day of course we know that all the players have the level we thought we could have won but all credit to Cuba who had a great match.
COPAN, Honduras, September 8, 2022.- Santa Rosa in Copan, Honduras, will welcome the XIV AFECAVOL U19 Boys’ Central American Championship from September 11 to 15 at the Santa Rosa Copan Gymnasium.
This is the second occasion that Copan, historic monument of Honduras, has hosted an AFECAVOL championship, in 2013 they hosted the XV U20 Women’s Central American championship.
The round-robin competition will consist of six national teams, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua starting on Monday 11th with three daily matches.
Costa Rica has won the past two editions undefeated (2019, 2017); with a total of seven gold medals and having reached the podium of every edition since its creation in 1982, they are the most awarded team of the under 19 age-group in AFECAVOL.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, The Dominican Republic host mixed power and finesse both from the service line and attacking near the net to build a wide margin on the scoreboard and get past the United States who defeated Canada 3-0 (25-17, 25 -13, 25-15).
The win kept the Dominican side on an undefeated record of 4-0. On Thursday they will play against the United States (3-1).
The defending champions only had Brayelin González and Gaila González (10) in double figures, but Madeline Guilén added 9 and Angélica Hinojosa and Yonkaira Peña each added 6 points.
Marcos Kwiek, coach of the Dominican Republic: The most important thing for me is that I have the opportunity to rotate the entire team and let the younger girls gain more experience. We know that what we are going to face in the World Cup is very different from what we are playing here but everything is part of a preparation.
Carolyn O’Dwyer, Coach of Canada: We played today against a very strong team in the Dominican Republic we made a lot of unforced errors that didn’t put us in a good position we were attacking well but we couldn’t find a way to break their blocking system and defense Dominican was really good too.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 7, 2022 – United States defeated Cuba 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-17) improving their win-lost mark to 3-1 at the NORCECA Final Six Volleyball Pan America Cup taking place in the capital of Dominican Republic for the second year in a row. Cuba dropped its record to 1-3.
Stephanie Samedy led the American side with 12 points, followed by Veronica Jones-Perry and Avery Skinner each with 11 marks. Cuban Fine topped all the players in the contest with 16 points. The Cubans committed 24 errors against 14 by United States.
Victoria Dilfer, player of United States: It was a well runned match for the US team, Cuba is a very physical team that definitely challenged us on a different ways, we handled their strong service well andwith that we were able to take advantage on our net game.
Gretell Moreno, player of Cuba:
It was a good game, I want to thank the United States team because we are a young team that travels in development and games like this help us grow to be able to one day reach the level that the United States and the Dominican Republic have and also grow ourselves as players.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 7, 2022 – Puerto Rico breezed past Mexico in straight sets improving its win-loss record to 3-1 good for current second place in the NORCECA Final Six Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup in the earliest contest of Thursday.
The score was 25-20, 25-20, 25-8, with the third one being the shortest of this year competition, erasing the 25-11 set by Dominican Republic opening one against the Puerto Ricans in their Wednesday’s match on Wednesday.
Stephanie Enright led the Puerto Rican squad with 17 points, followed by Neira Ortiz and Genesis Collazo each with 13 points. For Mexico, Vanessa Villegas was the best with 7 points.
The record of Mexico fell down to 2-2 with one match to play on Friday against Canada.
Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico: The positive that I see in today’s match after a defeat like yesterday’s gives us peace of mind and confidence for our goal, which is the World Cup, Mexico made us stronger in the first two sets until point 18 and in the end we in the third set we were able to get in on our serve early on and get them into trouble that was the key to this win.
Rafael Petry, coach of Mexico: We knew that it was going to be a very complicated game since Puerto Rico is a team that comes with its sights set on the World Cup and its players come with their minds prepared for that. During the game in the transition battle, Puerto Rico was more effective and I think that made the difference in the result.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 6, 2022 – Defending champions and home team Dominican Republic kept sole position of first place at the second edition of NORCECA Final Six Pan American Coup with a third victory without losses after defeating Puerto Rico in straight sets 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-17) on Tuesday night.
The Queens of the Caribbean dominated in attacks (36-26), blocks (14-4) and service winners (5-3).
Gaila Gonzalez led the home girls with 13 points, including two blocks and one ace, followed by Brayelin Martínez with 11 points, all via attacks and Candida Arias with 6 blocks.
Brittany Abercrombie and Karina Ocasio were the best for Puerto Rico each with 9 points.
Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: We know that this tournament is a tournament where there is obviously a quota for the Pan American Games, we are already classified, we have just come from a tournament and I am trying to give the girls rest to give the newest ones experience and it is preparation for what comes this year which is the World Championship. The most important thing was that they were able to play a good game and very well fought.
Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico: We knew that we were coming against a world-class team that has been training together for a long time and very few of us have already had high-level matches this summer, today things did not go as we wanted but this match prepares us well for the level we want to reach to try to do my best in the World Cup.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 6, 2022 – The United States won a straight-sets tough contest against their north side contest Canada by score of 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) at Volleyball National Palace Ricardo Arias on Tuesday.
The Americans improved their win-loss balance to 2-1 while the North Americans worsened to 0-3. The winners led in points from the service line 6-5 and 7-4 from the battle defending the net.
Nia Reed was the best American scorer with 15 points, all but one in attacks, followed by Danielle Drews with 12 points, including three aces. Grills stood out for Canada with 15 tallies, including one block and two aces.
Carolyn O´Dwyer, coach of Canada: I think in this game we played a lot of better that in in the first two we did a really good job on the service line that putted some preassure on the other team unfortunately we missed some valuable points that cost us the game, we expect to play better the next game.
Michelle Chatman, Coach of United States: Our team did a really good job responding from yesterday match that we were strugg with the receiving, Canada putted some service preassure on us today and our response was better today on that part. I think we grow up as a team through today´s game.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 6, 2022 – Mexico beat Cuba in the first match of five sets of the NORCECA Final Six Pan American Tournament of the current second edition at the Ricardo Arias Volleyball Palace in the Dominican capital.
The Mexicans prevailed by partial scores of 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 17-25, 15-11) of the match that lasted 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Aimé Topete led the winners with 22 points that included 7 aces, and was followed by María Fernanda Rodríguez with 20 and Karina Flores with 18.
The most outstanding Cubans in the offense were Dezirett Madam, who dominated the general list with 25 points, and Ailama Cesé with 19.
In service winners what opened the eyes was the favorable margin of 16-7 of Mexico in service winners.
Rafael Petry, coach of Mexico: We knew that the game was very important for both teams because of the issue of seeking classification against the teams that are part of the event. We had many ups and downs during the match and we had to focus more on the defense that we had already worked on in practice, luckily we were able to adjust that in the tiebreak and that gave us the win.
Jorge Sosa, Coach of Cuba: Mexico beats us in the middle game, they know how to play without the ball, we have to educate ourselves on that. The problem today was not the opposite, it was us who stopped doing especially in the game in the mesh, one of the strengths of this team is the attack through the middle and that did not work today due to the reception that unfortunately we received today failed.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 5, 2022 – Convincingly and without complications, it was the second victory in a row last night for the Caribbean Queens after having three sets to zero (25-20/25-16/25-12) against the Mexican team, at the end of the second day of the Norceca Final Six Tournament, where the Banreservas Cup is played.
The Dominicans faced no problems to remain undefeated (2-0), as they combined a strong serve, excellent blocking and combined attack to break their rivals who now posted their record (0-2).
The Dominicans’ attack was guided by Yonkaira Peña Isabel, with 14 points, Brayelin Martínez contributed 13, while Madeline Guillén scored 11 points and the left-footed Gaila González left with ten, in the event that brings together six countries and takes place successfully at the Ricardo -Gioriver- Arias Volleyball Palace, of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
With her great performance, Peña assumes the leadership of the tournament with the most points scored (18), in the tournament that concludes this coming Saturday.
It was impossible for the Mexicans to circumvent the iron defense carried out by the girls led by Brazilian Marcos Kwiek, who, unlike on Sunday, did not use his star players, Brenda Castillo and Bethania de la Cruz.
“We went out to give a good game and we were able to achieve it, each one of us went out to comply with the game scheme proposed by our leader, now we have to stay focused to try to keep our undefeated and go out on the field to defend it against Puerto Rico ”, expressed Peña Isabel after the game that lasted 1:10 minutes.
For the defeated, Claudia Río was the most outstanding with 7 points, seconded by Aimé Topete, with six goals.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 5, 2022 – Cuba defeated Canada in consecutive sets this Monday 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) to equal their record to a win and a setback after having lost against the Dominican Republic on opening Sunday.
Dezirett Madam and Ailama Cese were the best Cuban scorers with 13 points each. Layne Buskirk led Canada with 9 points.
The winners had an advantage in blocks (8-4) and in aces (7-3) in the game that lasted 1 hour and 21 minutes.
Gretell Moreno, Captain of Cuba: We knew how to recover from a strong defeat against the Dominican Republic in the first game, we came out with a better attitude on the field and little by little our game flowed, but we have to continue preparing ourselves and continue to iron out those little details that we have to fix in order to reach the level that we we want and return to the world elite.
Melissa Langegger, captain of Canada: I think we had a lot of good fight, we battled every point and we did not win today but here we are as a team here we are as Canada. I think we played better today than yesterday.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 5, 2022 – In a close game from start to finish, Puerto obtained its second victory of the Final Six by defeating the United States 25-22, 28-26, 21-25, 25-20 in the second match of the day on Monday.
A shot from veteran Karina Ocasio gave “Las Nenas” the point they needed to win the first set 25-22 and show them the path to victory on the second date of the fair.
Those led by Fernando Morales extended their unbeaten record to 2-0 and the Americans, who in their debut accounted for Canada 3-0, are now 1-1.
Morales, in turn, declared that the team defended and had a consistent service, aspects of the game that he hopes will also come out against the Dominican Republic.
Brittany Abercrombie and Ocasio, with 18 and 17 points, respectively, led Puerto Rico’s collegiate attack.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republicm September 4, 2022 – Defending champions Dominican Republic swept Cuba 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-18 to complete the opening actions of the NORCECA Final Six Pan American Women’s Volley ball on Sunday.
The threesome of Yonkaira Peña, Gaila Gonzalez and Brayelin Martinez topped the offense of the Dominican side popularly called The Queens of the Caribbean with 14, 12 and 10 points respectively,
Cubans Dezirett Madam and Ailama Cese each landed 9 points as the best scorers for the defeated side.
As a team the home side, supported by an enthusiastic crowd at the Volleyball Palace Ricardo Arias, had the advantage in service winners 7-3 and the blocking category 10-6.
Marcos Kwiek, coach of Dominican Republic: It is very good to have Cuba back in international events. That is something that we need for Cuba to raise its level, for us to have more level teams in our area because we are all growing. Today we tried to play our game respecting the tactics and techniques It is a long tournament because it is played every day and this is just the beginning.
Tomas Fernandez, coach of Cuba: To thank the Dominican Republic for the intensity they had playing with us, for me it is a pleasant headache to face the Dominican Republic, which is a team that has a lot of prominence not only in the Pan-American region but also worldwide and you learn a lot playing against this set.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 4, 2022 – United States dominated a close match against Mexico but their lead never was never in danger in the second contest of opening day at the NORCECA Final Six Volleyball Pan American Cup on Sunday afternoon.
The final score was 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18).
Danielle Drews was the best scorer for the winning side with 15 points escorted by Veronica Jones Perry and Alison Bastianelli with 13 and 11, respectively, and Nia Reed with 10. Karina Flores reached the 10-point wall for Mexico.
The Americans totaled 10 aces from the service line and 7 blocking at the net.
Danielle Drews, player of United States: It was a good team win we were able to use our entire lineup and everyone did their job and we were able to come successful as a group, I think Mexico is a good team they play good defense and I wish them good luck the rest of the tournament.
Claudia Rios, player of Mexico: It seemed like a very difficult game for us. The United States is a fairly strong team with young players, but with a lot of experience We had already faced them in the last Pan American Cup, this time we tried to give our best on the court but we could not achieve the victory.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 4, 2022- Puerto Rico enjoyed an effective debut at the Second Pan American Cup NORCECA Final Six by riding Canada in straight sets (25-18, 25-16, 25-18) this Sunday at the National Volleyball Palace “Ricardo Arias”.
Veteran Karina Ocasio, in a return to the Puerto Rican team, showed that she hadn’t lost an inch of physical form and much less technical.
Ocasio finished the match with 22 points that included 5 blocks. She was followed by Pilar Victoria with 10 points. Canadians Layne Buskirk and Gabrielle Attieh each had 8 points.
Puerto Rico was widely leading in kills 44-27 and in blocks 9-4.
Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico: The girls came out hungry to win this game. We are looking for rhythm in preparation for the world championship. We have two players recovering from injury but thanks to the fact that those who played were able to do their job and we were able to give them rest so we could have them available in the strongest games.
Carolyn O´Dwyer, coach of Canada: I think we have played against one really very strong opponent in Puerto Rico. We did not have a good coordination in our side and it is hard to beat a good opponement when you do that. We will not make many errors for sure.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 4, 2022 – The official Opening Ceremony of the NORCECA Final Six Women’s Tournament began with a parade of the teams around the playing court of the National Volleyball Palace Ricardo Arias.
It was presided over by Mr. Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, president of NORCECA and also First Executive Vice President of FIVB who was joined by the Minister of Sports Francisco Camacho ,the president of Dominican Olympic Committee, Antonio Acosta, and the president of the Dominican Federation, Ramon García.
Also present were Mr. Luis Mejía Oviedo, president of Caribe Centro Sports Organization and Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello former president of DOC and the CACSO Sports Organization now CCSO.
Opening Ceremony 2022 Women’s Final Six Cup
Marte Hoffiz thanked Banco of Reservas for being the main sponsor of the competition, which was represented over by the Administrative Vice President Jose Manuel Almonte.
Among the celebrities supporting the competition who attended the first day of action was TV Star Alicia Ortega who received the recognition by Marte Hoffiz.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 3, 2022 – On the eve of the start of the Final Six Women’s Tournament, all of the coaches expressed their opinions of the winning chances of their sides of the daily competitions.
During the traditional inspection of the participants, the technical directors met with the press department of NORCECA, the organization in charge of the event.
We are going to take advantage of the tournament to continue the final preparation part with a view to the World Championship, which is the biggest event that we have this year. We are the venue and the expectations are to at least reach the final and discuss the gold. We are the current two-time champions of this competition but this is sport and all the teams come to the same, what I can assure you is that we will play to win all the games.
Carolyn O´Dwyer, coach of Canada:
I think we are really excited that it is a pretty similar team that we had at the PanAm Cup so we just really looking to see how much we can improve on our performance there. We are competing with very strong teams so we will see how we do to get as far as possible.
Tomas Fernandez, coach of Cuba
Our main objective was to qualify for the Central American Games and we achieved it in Hermosillo. What we want to achieve in this tournament is for Cuba to get as close as possible to the podium and try to improve in the Pan American ranking.
Rafael Petry, coach of Mexico:
It will be a tough competition, we know that the teams are well prepared, our objective here is to be fighting for a medal again, it will not be easy, but we will try to represent Mexico as well as possible.
Fernando Morales, coach of Puerto Rico:
In this tournament, our goal is to win a medal. We come from a break as the Puerto Rican League was played in the summer and ended three weeks ago, so we gave the girls a break because they needed it. We only had three training sessions before coming here, but we are also using this competition as preparation for the World Cup. These games are going to help us a lot and we hope to be in our best shape at the end of the tournament.
Michelle Chatman, coach of United States:
We expect that our team plays with a lot of passion and a lot excitement and so we are expecting our players to play well. I think that all of the teams competing here are in very good shape; we all trained hard so it is going to be a lot of fun to play the teams on the court and compete.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, September 3, 2022 – Forty coaches from Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras; Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic have registered for the Level III Course to be held in Santo Domingo during the Final Six Women’s Cup.
This is the first authorized by FIVB and NORCECA with the presence of participants and instructors.
The director of the course is the Spaniard Luis Muchaga with the assistance of Cuban
Francisco Cruz Jimenez, who have been working for 10 days with morning and afternoon duties in the facilities of the National Center of Volleyball Development.
All the participants will have the opportunity to use as practice camp all the matches of the Final Six Women’s Cup, which runs from September 5 to 11 at the National Palace of Volleyball Ricardo Arias.
This kind of high level course is only authorized to the Center in Dominican Republic by FIVB and NORCECA for his high degree in organization that puts it as the most functional of the Development Centers around the world.
SANTO DOMINGO Dominican Republic, September 1, 2022 – Defending champions and home team Dominican Republic will make it’s debut at the second final edition of the Final Six Tournament on the night cap of opening game on September 4 in the National Volleyball Palace of the Dominican capital.
The local girls will challenge Cuba at 19:00. Previously Puerto Rico will play Canada and the United States will meet Mexico at 15:00 and 17:00 respectively.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, August 31 2022 – Five-time Pan American Cup champions Dominican Republic will be seeking it’s second Final Sx crown in as many editions when they start playing next Sunday at the Volleyball National Palace in Santo Domingo.
The inaugural event was high-lighted in 2021 by the retirement of long time Dominican star Prisilla Rivera after 20 years of action with the national squad.
The first Pan American Cup won by the Queens of the Caribbean was achieved in 2008 in Mexicali, Mexico under the wheel of Dominican coach Miguel Beato Cruz. Then the 4 others were attained – in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2022 following the instructions of Brazilian Marcos Kwiek.
Thousands of spectators are expected in the Santo Domingo venue, which has been renovated with air conditioner for the comfort of the high temperatures the country is enduring at this time.
The other teams competing are United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 28, 2022.- Setter and team captain Niverka Marte of the Dominican Republic was selected the Most Valuable Player of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup after her team won their fifth gold medal match over Colombia at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
The closing ceremony was chaired by NORCECA President Cristobal Marte Hoffiz accompanied by the Guest of Honor Ana Guevara, Director of the Sports Council and Physical Culture (CONADE) of Mexico.
Niverka Marte shared the podium with her teammates Bethania De La Cruz, awarded 1st Best Spiker and Best Server, Geraldine Gonzalez 1st Best Blocker, Gaila Gonzalez the Best Opposite and Brenda Castillo awarded as Best Libero, Best Receiver and Best Digger.
Individual Awards
From the silver medalists team Colombia, Maria Alejandra Marin was chosen as the Best Setter and Darlevis Mosquera the 2nd Best Blocker.
Outside hitter Avery Skinner of the United States and bronze medalists, received the recognitions for 2nd Best Spiker and Best Scorer.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 28, 2022.- Dominican Republic won their fifth Women’s Pan American gold medal defeating Colombia 3-1 (21-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-16) on Sunday at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
The Dominican Republic also won the Women’s Pan American Cup title, in 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016. For Colombia, this is their first silver medal and second medal in the history of the event, having won the bronze medal in the past edition in 2019.
Dominicans blocking and service points seized Colombia by comfortable 14-9 and 4-0 margins respectively. The Caribbeans also led by a close 56-51 attacking advantage and scoring on 22 South American errors against 19.
Outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz scored a match-high of 23 points on 21 kills and two points from blocks in Dominican Republic’s gold medal victory. Opposite Gaila Gonzalez also contributed to the winning effort with 15 points from 11 kills, one block and three aces, joined by outside hitter Yonkaira Peña collecting 14 points from 12 kills and two blocks.
Three players also led Colombia’s attackers, outside hitter Ana Karina Olaya with 17 points on 16 kills and one block, outside hitter Amanda Coneo with 13 points on 10 kills and three blocks, and middle blocker Yeisy Soto tallied 10 points.
Dominican Republic celebrates winning fifth Pan American Cup gold medal
Niverka Marte, captain of Dominican Republic: “We have screamed and celebrated a lot, I am so happy and proud of my team. I am part of a team of leaders that doesn’t allow anyone to play bad because we are always pushing each other. Colombia has a fierce team, they never give up and we respect them, we faced a great opponent that played well and stood up to us. The joy and team union from the first day of the tournament is what gave us the crown today”.
María Alejandra Marín, captain of Colombia: “This is our first Pan American Cup final, we are happy and hoping for many more to come; we knew it was going to be hard. Colombia did its job, but things didn’t come out, it was a battling second place. We won the first set because we were tactically organized, the rest of the game we committed too many errors, we learn from everything”.
Marcos Kwiek, head coach of Dominican Republic: “After no concentration in the first set, we focused on what we had practiced, studied, and prepared for the game. I believe our discipline was key to win the game. The sets we lost during the tournament were all close, we must be more aggressive from the start”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 28, 2022.- The United States won the bronze medal over host Mexico 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 25-11) at the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup on Sunday at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
This is the United States fourth bronze medal in the history of the Pan American Cup and they earned their qualification to the 2023 Pan American Games finishing as the top ranked NORCECA team not previously qualified, Dominican Republic and Mexico earned their tickets last year.
The U.S. fought four-set points (20-24) in the second set, but Mexico extended to overtime forcing the Americans to celebrate their victory in four sets.
United States topped every skill of the game, with 52-32 attacking margin, 11-8 in blocking points and 10-7 aces. The U.S. committed one less error than Mexico (25-26).
Outside hitters Veronica Jones-Perry of the United States led all scorers with 24 points from 20 kills and a match-high of four aces. Opposite Stephanie Samedy scored 15 points on 11 kills, three blocks and one ace, followed by outside hitter Avery Skinner with 13 points on 8 kills, a match-high of four blocks and one ace.
Outside hitter Samantha Bricio and Grecia Castro led Mexico producing 10 points each.
Mackenzie May, outside hitter of United States: “Mexico played an incredible game. This was a chaotic match for us, I am proud of my team for working through some adversity, some of us playing positions they’ve never played before, especially me, so having the team behind me and knowing we were good was great. Now we go to the Dominican Republic to play in the Final Six and hopefully we’ll medal as well”.
Bradley Rostratter, head coach of United States: “I am so proud of these girls, we had anything and everything going our way and the fact that we’re going away with a medal is outstanding; it speaks of their resiliency and their character. Adversity of not feeling too high for some players came and without the girl’s willingness to try new things this wouldn’t have been possible to overcome”.
HERMOSILLO, México, 28 de agosto de 2022.- Cuba venció a Puerto Rico 3-1 (14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-21) por el quinto lugar de la XIX Copa Panamericana Femenina el domingo en la Arena Sonora de Hermosillo.
Cuba concluyó el evento con récord 3-3 en juegos ganados y Puerto Rico 2-4. Ambos equipos obtuvieron la clasificación a los Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe 2023 ubicándose entre los primeros tres lugares de los equipos no clasificados al evento; República Dominicana y México obtuvieron su boleto el año pasado.
Cuba sostuvo una cercana ventaja en ataques (53-51) y en bloqueos (10-7), en tanto que Puerto Rico controló los puntos de la línea de servicios (6-2) y cometió menor cantidad de errores no forzados (24-27).
La opuesta Dezirett Madan de Cuba fue la máxima anotadora del encuentro con 23 puntos. Las centrales Laura Suárez y Dayana Martínez aportaron 11 puntos cada una.
La atacante de esquina y capitana Pilar Victoria lideró Puerto Rico con 20 puntos y la opuesta Génesis Collazo contribuyó con 19 puntos.
Cuba celebrates beating Puerto Rico for fifth place
Gretell Moreno, acomodadora de Cuba: “Venimos en el torneo de menos a más, este es un equipo joven que está trabajando duro, está progresando en técnica, táctica y en la actitud en la cancha, creo que será un grupo que dará grandes resultados para Cuba pronto”.
Nomaris Velez, libero de Puerto Rico: “En el primer set mantuvimos el enfoque, nos mantuvimos unidas, luego nos costó un poco de trabajo. Aun así, dimos una buena batalla sin dejar escapar oportunidades de anotar, fue un evento largo y el cansancio afectó al equipo”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 27, 2022.- Dominican Republic won their semifinal match to Mexico 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-8, 25-14) on Saturday and will clash with Colombia for the 19th Women’s Pan American Gold at the Arena Sonora in Hermosillo.
Dominicans fell in a battled first set not before recovering from a five-point deficit (8-13) and struggled in the second to overcome Mexico’s offense, only to come out with a dominant force for the rest of the game and move into the gold medal match.
Host Mexico will face the United States in the bronze medal match.
Dominicans overpowered Mexico with a huge 15-1 margin in serves; they also led by a comfortable 10-6 margin in blocks and a close 50-48 advantage in attacks. Dominican Republic limited their errors to 13 points against 23.
Flores of Mexico and Marte of Dominican Republic fight the ball over the net
Opposite Gaila Gonzalez of Dominican Republic scored a match high of 23 points on 13 kills, and a match-high of 4 points from blocks and 6 aces. Outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz added 21 points on 14 kills, 2 blocks and 5 aces, followed by outside hitter Madeline Guillen with 13 points.
Two outside hitters led Mexico’s attackers, Samantha Bricio with 16 points and Aime Topete tallied 13 points.
Gaila González, top scorer of Dominican Republic: “We ended up committing too many errors in the first set, we needed to adjust better for the next sets; México took the opportunity very well. For the match against Colombia our concentration will be crucial to come out with the victory, the last time we played against them we came out victorious and the goal will be to do it again”.
Angela Crosetti, libero of Mexico: “In the first set our rhythm of play was fluent and we were speaking to one another about the strategy we wanted to execute. The support of the fans has been of great value for the team. We know we can win the bronze medal playing with a lot of energy, confidence about our game and good communication giving our all”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 27, 2022.- Colombia continued their winning streak reaching the gold medal match of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup over the United States 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 25-20, 25-20) in semifinals at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
Colombia remains undefeated and will face the winner between host Mexico and the Dominican Republic for the gold.
The U.S. battled off three set points (22-24) winning the second set, serving Colombia their first set-loss of the event.
Colombia held a close 59-57 advantage and a comfortable 6-1 in serves. The United States led 9-6 in blocking points. Colombia benefited from 29 U.S. errors against 16.
Maria Alejandra Marin (15) and Gomez (13) big celebration
Outside hitter Amanda Coneo led Colombia’s attackers with 20 points from 18 kills and two blocks. Middle blocker Yeisy Soto also contributed to the winning effort with 15 points from 12 kills, one block and two aces and opposite Dayana Segovia followed with 15 points on 13 kills and two aces.
Outside hitter Avery Skinner of the U.S. led all scorers with 21 points from 20 kills and one block. Two other players scored double-figures, outside hitter Veronica Jones-Perry with 17 points on 15 kills and two blocks, and middle blocker Alison Bastianelli with 10 points on 7 kills and three blocks.
Margarita Martínez, outside hitter of Colombia: “The team’s performance was stable, we were calm, and we knew how to solve at important moments during the game against an opponent who knows how to play. We lost the second set because the United States played faster, it was hard to adjust, but still it was a battled one”.
Victoria (Tori) Dilfer, setter of United States: “It’s always disappointing when we lose in this situation but plenty of good things happened in the match, it was a fun match. In the second set we did adjustments despite being well prepared, our middles pulled well to success but came too late in the match”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 27, 2022.- Peru took the seventh place at the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup defeating Costa Rica in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-13) on Saturday at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
This was Peru’s second win over Costa Rica, they met in pool-play; Peru ended the event with a 3-3 win-loss record.
Peru prevailed on 42-26 attacking advantage, 2-0 points from blocks and 7-2 from service points; scoring on 24 Costa Rican errors against 16.
Peruvian outside hitter Ysabella Sanchez led with 13 points on 10 kills and three aces, followed by outside hitter Aixa Vigil and middle blocker Maricarmen Guerrero with 9 and 8 points respectively.
Opposite Angelica Rodriguez led Costa Rica’s attackers with 11 points.
Angélica Muñoz, setter of Peru: “We are glad to end with a win for Peru. The competition was long, hard and there are many things we need to improve, we are going step by step. I believe we did good teamwork and in shows on the court”.
Tamara Espinoza, captain of Costa Rica: “In this game we had difficulties to start and get into the rhythm of play we gained during the tournament. The tournament was of personal growth individually as players and as a team, we came here to prepare for the Central American Games, I am sure this will help us for following competitions”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 27, 2022.- Canada beat Nicaragua 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-22) for ninth place of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup on Saturday at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
This was Canada’s second occasion beating Nicaragua, they also met in the preliminary round. Nicaragua put up a battle in the first and third set, but not enough for Canada’s straight set victory.
Canada led by a huge 52-25 advantage in attacks, they also held an 8-2 margin in blocks and a 5-1 in aces. Canada committed 10 unforced errors and Nicaragua a total of 29.
Three Canadians scored double-figures, opposite Natasha Calkins with 14 points, middle blocker Layne Van Buskirk with 13 points and outside hitter Trinity Solecki with 12 points.
Nicaraguan leading scorer was outside hitter Hellen Traña with 7 points.
Melissa Langegger, captain of Canada: “Nicaragua put up a good battle, we were trying to focus on our side and making it as clean as possible, grinding out every point. This was a tough competition, there is a lot to learn from it and we’re heading into another competition so it will be important”.
Lolette Rodríguez, setter of Nicaragua: “We came to the tournament to give our all, battle every match and we had a great one today against Canada; we improved in many aspects and now we must work on the negative to improve for upcoming tournaments”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 26, 2022.- Mexico won a dramatic quarterfinal five setter over Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-17, 25-19, 18-25, 20-25, 15-12) to advance into semifinals of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena of Hermosillo.
Host Mexico will face the Dominican Republic in semifinals and Puerto Rico will play for fifth place against Cuba. In the other semifinal, the United States goes up against Colombia.
Puerto Rico’s big comeback in the third set took Mexico by surprise, struggling to get back on track only to extend the match to a decisive fifth set.
Mexico overcame Puerto Rico with a consistent 67-49 advantage in attacks and a 4-3 margin in aces. Puerto Rico controlled 13-7 from blocking points and committed fewer errors (25-33).
Mexican players gather to celebrate their victory over Puerto Rico
Middle blocker Jocelyn Urias topped Mexico with 20 points on 16 kills, three blocks and one ace. Also contributing to Mexico’s victory were outside hitters Aime Topete and Samantha Bricio with 18 and 13 points respectively.
Opposite Genesis Collazo led Puerto Rico’s attackers with 20 points on 16 kills and 4 blocks, followed by outside hitters Genesis Miranda and Pilar Victoria with 17 and 15 points respectively.
Cecilia Rios, outside hitter of Mexico: “It was a dramatic victory, but we reached our goal, the team is happy. The support of our fans was valuable for Mexico to be in the semifinal. Our team work was crucial, we are a family and our mentality has been in evolution, we are coming from less to more, hoping for a good result tomorrow”.
Hector Soto, head coach of Puerto Rico: “As a team it doesn’t matter being behind because there is always a chance for the match to continue in our favor, until the last point of the game. I am proud of how the girls battled in a hostile atmosphere; they were cold and showed what it is to represent Puerto Rico with everything”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 26, 2022.- The United States beat Cuba 3-2 (27-29, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 19-17) in a comeback win to claim a semifinal spot at the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
The U.S. will play in semifinals to either Colombia or Dominican Republic depending on the result of the other semifinal between Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The United States and Cuba challenged each other the entire quarterfinal match, with the U.S. missing four-set points in the first set which only predicted the tough battle ahead.
The U.S. reached a comfortable seven-point lead (11-4) in the third set with Cuba catching up to even the score to seventeen points. The Americans won the fourth with a comfortable margin, and then captured a thrilling fifth set after Cuba let it slip away, losing two match-points and later the U.S. missing three.
The United States led 64-62 in attacks and scored from 36 Cuban errors against 24. Cuba did better in blocking points 16-13.
Outside hitter Avery Skinner scored 18 points as the U.S. leading scorer, from 14 kills, two blocks and two aces. Middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan contributed with 16 points, including 6 stuff blocks; and opposite Stephanie Samedy tallied 14 points.
Cuban Greisy Fine was the top attacker of the match with 20 points on 16 kills, three blocks and one ace, joined by outside hitter Claudia Tarin collected 19 points and outside hitter Ailama Cese added 11 points. Middle blocker Dayana Martinez topped in blocks with 7 points.
Stephanie Samedy, opposite of United States: “We were able to compensate and adjust, Cuba was great, they came out swinging and played good defense as well; props to them. We put up a great fight and we will do the same in the semifinal”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 26, 2022.- Peru defeated Canada 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-18) to play for seventh place of the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
Peru will play for seventh place against Costa Rica and Canada goes head-to-head against Nicaragua for ninth place.
After two battled sets, Peru finally found their way to force their game strategy and rhythm of play, leading 46-29 in attacks and scoring on 25 opponent errors against 20. Canada was better in blocks 10-3 and in aces 3-1.
Outside hitter Karla Ortiz topped Peru’s attackers, with 13 points on 9 kills, three blocks and one ace, accompanied by middle blocker Ginna Lopez and outside hitter Ysabella Sanchez with 10 points apiece (all from kills).
Middle blocker Avery Heppell led Canada with 10 points on 6 kills and a match-high of 4 blocks, outside hitter Melissa Langegger and middle blocker Allyssah Fitterer followed with 9 and 8 points respectively.
Francisco Hervas, head coach of Peru: “It was a difficult match for us, after falling to Puerto Rico, it’s emotionally hard for our team. Today we confirmed we can continue to compete; the result was in our favor. The team was disciplined in blocking, the players understood what we wanted them to do, sometimes that’s what matches are all about. Canada is a good team, with a lot of energy and dynamic, so we stood strong and stopped them, it wasn’t easy”.
Avery Heppell, top scorer of Canada: “The first two sets were much better, we came out strong, it was part of our game plan. It was unfortunate we gave them too many points in the third set, we weren’t as strong as we needed to be. We will close by giving our all tomorrow”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 26, 2022.- Costa Rica bounced back from an 0-2 set-deficit to beat Nicaragua 3-2 (19-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-13) in a placing match at the Women’s Pan American Cup in the Sonora Arena of Hermosillo.
Costa Rica will play for seventh place against the winner between Canada and Peru, while Nicaragua plays the loser for ninth place.
Costa Rica had a formidable comeback after falling in two closed sets and taking control of the third set jumping to an early eight-point lead (10-2); still they had difficulties overcoming Nicaragua missing two set-points in the third, three in the fourth set and coming from behind (8-10) in the fifth.
Costa prevailed 69-57 in attacks, 11-7 in blocks and 4-3 in aces. Nicaragua committed fewer errors (20-32).
Forbes of Nicaragua attacks against Costa Rica double block
Opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez of Costa Rica led all scorers with 23 points on 20 kills, two blocks and one ace, followed by outside hitter Tamara Espinoza with 21 points and middle blocker Lakysha Thompson added 17 points including a match-high of 4 blocks.
Three players scored double-figures for Nicaragua, outside hitter and team captain of Nicaragua Ericka Calero with 15 points, middle blocker Brittany Forbes with 14 points and opposite hitter Hellen Traña with 12 points.
Pablo Acuña, head coach of Costa Rica: “It was a complex match, Nicaragua played very well the first two sets, they are a great opponent, and this has become a Central American classic. The player’s reaction took too long, emotionally, and tactically as well. The huge advantage in the third set was because of the team’s energy, our offense was effective, and we executed the game plan we practiced today”.
Ericka Calero, captain of Nicaragua: “We lost concentration as a team, we were uncertain on the court and our offense-defense communication couldn’t connect like in the first two sets. Our team’s energy couldn’t recover from losing the third set, we couldn’t pick ourselves up”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 25, 2022.- Host Mexico outclassed Canada in straight sets 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-21) to finish second in pool B of the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
Mexico, with an 3-1 overall record in the preliminary round, will face Puerto Rico in quarterfinals; Cuba, third place (2-2) goes up against the U.S. in the other quarterfinal match. Canada will play for classification matches for positions 7 to 10 starting against Peru.
Mexico led in attacks 35-30 and committed 16 errors against 32. Canada led by a huge 10-4 advantage in serves and a slim 5-4 margin in blocks.
Outside hitter Samantha Bricio once again led Mexico on a match-high of 12 points on 10 kills and two aces and Aime Topete tallied 11 points on 8 kills, two blocks and one ace. Middle blocker Karina Flores contributed with 8 points.
Canadian opposite hitter Sydney Grills scored 10 points from 6 kills and four aces, while outside hitter and team captain Melissa Langegger chipped in with 8 points.
Samantha Bricio of Mexico spikes high over Canada
Rafael Petry, head coach of México: “We earned an important victory, we struggled in receiving, a match that had ups and downs from both sides because of the responsibility of the result. Now we must think about our next game, rest; I believe Mexico will put up a fight against Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals”.
Jocelyn Urías, captain of Mexico: “The moments we lost focus complicated the dramatic finish of the match, but we solved quickly executing the elements of play, attacking with strength to overcome Canada that pressured with serves”.
Carolyn O’Dwyer, head coach of Canada: “It is a tough loss, we need to be more consistent in executing and limit the number of errors”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 25, 2022.- Dominican Republic recovered from an 0-2 set-deficit winning pool A over the United States 3-2 (23-25, 24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 15-8) and heading into semifinals of the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
The U.S. battled strong to win the first two sets, by close scores and missing one set point before grabbing the second. Dominicans’ reaction helped them jump to a comfortable four-point advantage in mid third set (14-10) and finished strong with a seven-point lead. The Dominican Republic forced the tie-break in a tough close fourth set, only to come out and dominate the fifth and final set.
Dominican Republic concludes pool-play undefeated (4-0) for their semifinal ticket and the U.S. second in pool A will play in quarterfinals, waiting for the result between Mexico and Canada
Dominicans scored on 37 opponent errors against 12, while the United States led in attacks (67-62), blocks (14-11) and aces (4-2).
Opposite hitter Gaila Gonzalez of Dominican Republic scored a tournament-high so far of 27 points on 24 kills, two blocks and one ace. Outside hitters Yonkaira Peña and Bethania De La Cruz added 17 and 14 points respectively.
Outside hitter Danielle Drews led the United States with 24 points from 23 kills and one ace, Avery Skinner contributed with 21 points and opposite hitter Nia Reed registered 15 points, including a match-high of 5 blocks.
Bethania De La Curz of Dominican Republic spikes tru USA block
Niverka Marte, captain of Dominican Republic: “We had a great opponent on the other side, it wasn’t easy. We started off slow and they were aggressive, so we had to find our rhythm of play to find a way out. We battled up to the last point, never giving up which helped us with the victory. We are in the semifinals, but the discipline to get prepared doesn’t stop until the tournament ends”.
Kendall White, captain of United States: “In the first two sets we had a better game, with great energy, great rallies and energy from the crowd cheering for both sides. The U.S. plays every game like a championship game, we will do the same in the play-offs, just like this one, we’ll come out to win and hopefully stop the next team”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 25, 2022.- Colombia beat Nicaragua 3-0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-12) to top pool B and move directly into semifinals of the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
Colombia with a solid 4-0 record in the preliminary round earned their semifinal spot of the competition. Nicaragua, fifth place of pool B will play classification matches for positions 7 to 10 starting with Costa Rica on Friday.
The South Americans controlled the Central Americans in every skill of the game, attacks (37-22), blocks (14-2) and serves (12-0). In errors, Colombia committed 8 and Nicaragua 12.
Middle blocker Melissa Rangel scored 12 points as Colombia’s top scorer, from 9 kills, 2 blocks and one ace, joined by outside hitter Ana Karina Olaya with 11 points from 7 kills and a match-high of 4 aces; outside hitter Laura Grajales added 9 points.
Opposite hitter Hellen Traña collected 11 points for Nicaragua, on 10 kills and one block.
Melissa Rangel of Colombia attacks against Nicaragua
Melissa Rangel, top scorer of Colombia: “Our main goal was to qualify to the semifinals, today the coach made some line-up variations because it was a quieter match than the previous ones, seeking that everyone should fulfill their job and always have the score in our favor. Colombia’s firm pace is because of our work, preparing for Worlds and having clear goals. We have a strengthened team, we showed it on the court, and we will play hard whoever we play against”.
Swan Mendoza, outside hitter of Nicaragua: “We came into the competition aware of facing the best teams of America, strong teams and with much height than ours, with the idea of performing our work and preparing for future competitions. Tomorrow, we face Costa Rica, we already have our strategy and I believe that our previous matches served us to prepare for a Central American derby, we will follow the instructions of our coach”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 25, 2022.- Puerto Rico defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-12) to advance to quarterfinals of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena in Hermosillo.
Puerto Rico finished the preliminary round with a 2-2 win-loss record for third place in pool A, waiting for their opponent in the next round. Costa Rica will play classification matches for positions 7 to 10.
Puerto Rico outnumbered Costa Rica with a huge 41-17 advantage in attacks, 9-5 in blocks and 6-2 in aces, allowing 14 points from errors against 19.
Outside hitter and team captain Pilar Victoria led Puerto Rico with 13 points on 10 kills, two blocks and one ace. Setter Wilmarie Rivera and opposite hitter Genesis Collazo tallied 10 and 9 points respectively.
Opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez topped Costa Rica with 11 points from 8 kills, two blocks and one ace.
Huge dig from libero Velez of Puerto Rico
Wilmarie Rivera, setter of Puerto Rico: “We are glad to move into the next round, I think we’ve improved from the beginning of the tournament and yesterdays and today’s victories were crucial to advance, which is good for the team and continue improving. Our expectations in the competition are continuing to work hard and advance the most because we are a young group. Today I liked our team’s unity, energy, and communication. No matter who we face tomorrow, first we will study our game and focus on our side of the court, continue with effort, energy, and communication, all the positive we’ve been doing”.
Angélica Rodríguez, top scorer of Costa Rica: “We’ve played against strong opponents, but we haven’t stayed behind, we’ve been growing as a team. We’ve improved in technique and following our coaches’ instructions. For what’s left of the tournament we hope to play with more intelligence and with confidence”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 24, 2022.- Colombia remained unbeaten with a straight set win 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-17) over Cuba in pool B at the Women’s Pan American Cup at the Sonora Arena of Hermosillo.
Colombia with 3-0 record in pool B is in route to top pool B and seal their qualification to the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games. The event grants three berths; Dominican Republic and Mexico are already qualified.
The South Americans face Nicaragua (0-3) in their last pool-play outing, while Cuba concludes a 2-2 record.
Colombia subdued powerhouse Cuba with a comfortable 13-7 advantage in blocks and a 44-34 margin in attacks. Cuba held a slim advantage of 4-3 in aces. Colombia allowed 10 points from unforced errors, scoring on 15 from Cuba.
Amanda Coneo of Colombia avoids Cuba´s double block
Opposite hitter Dayana Segovia of Colombia topped all scorers with 21 points on 15 kills and a match-high of 6 points from blocks. Middle blocker Darlevis Mosquera chipped in with 11 points on 6 kills and 5 blocks, and middle blocker Yeisy Soto contributed with 9 points.
Middle blocker Jessica Aguilera led Cuba with 10 points on 5 kills, 4 from blocks and one ace. Outside hitters Claudia Tarin and Sulian Matienzo added 9 and 8 points respectively.
Dayana Segovia, top scorer of Colombia: “We were well prepared to face Cuba, we did a great job for a positive result. More than technique, our unity and complicity when we play is our team’s strength; we understand each other well; it has been years of process that helps us to know us well. Cuba is not easy, we did our work, we studied them well”.
Antonio Rizola, head coach of Colombia: “We were expecting the victory because my team has been working well, focused and we are recovering players that we needed, that’s why the team has more confidence. I didn’t expect a decisive win, we thought it would be in five sets. With this victory we are in the position of winning our pool, but what is most important is that we are one step from qualifying to the Central American Games, our big goal, Colombia deserves it”.
HERMOSILLO, Mexico, August 24, 2022.- Puerto Rico won a vibrant five-setter 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 16-25, 25-17, 15-12) to Peru in their first tournament win in pool A of the 19th Women’s Pan American Cup in Hermosillo.
The roller coaster victory put Puerto Rico in a hopeful position, with a 1-2 record needing to win their last pool match to Costa Rica and move into the quarterfinal round.
Peru concludes the preliminary round with a 1-3 win-loss record and could play for positions seven to ten depending on Puerto Rico’s result on Thursday.
Puerto Rico prevailed with 15-12 advantage in blocking and committing fewer errors (28-30) errors than Peru. Both teams scored 57 points from attacks and two points from serves.
Puerto Rico celebrates defeating Peru
Outside hitter and team captain Pilar Victoria led Puerto Rico on a match-high of 24 points from 22 attacks and two blocks. Also contributing in the Caribbeans victory was middle blocker Paola Rojas with 16 points on a match-high of 7 blocks and 9 kills, while opposite hitter Genesis Collazo added 11 points on 10 kills and one block.
Peru’s top scorer was opposite hitter Maria Paula Rodriguez with 21 points on 17 kills and 4 blocks, accompanied by outside hitter Karla Ortiz contributing with 16 points on 14 kills and 2 blocks, and by middle blocker Ginna Lopez adding 11 points on 8 kills and 3 blocks.
Pilar Victoria, captain of Puerto Rico: “It’s our first win, we are super excited because it was an important match that gives us the possibility to move forward in the tournament, in addition that we are working in getting into rhythm of play. We must continue to fight, obviously we must win tomorrow and finish third in our pool. In style we are much like Peru and our intention was to be aggressive all the time, we fought a lot in defense and with consistency in attacks”.
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