The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team defeated Canada 25-19, 25-19, 25-23 Tuesday
evening during Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship being held Sept. 12-17
in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
The U.S., ranked second in the world by the FIVB, concludes its three-team round-robin pool
versus Trinidad & Tobago (0-1) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Puerto Rico Time (1 p.m. Pacific
Time). Earlier in the tournament Canada defeated Trinidad & Tobago in four sets and finished
the pool with a 1-1 record as it has a bye on Wednesday.
Should Team USA finish as either the first or second-best pool winner after Wednesday’s
matches, it will advance directly to the semifinal round on Sept. 16. The third-best pool
winner will join the second-place pool finishers in the quarterfinals on Sept. 15. The
NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship concludes on Sept. 17 with the final classification
matches. The event’s gold and silver medalist will earn tickets to the 2011 FIVB World Cup,
the first 2012 Olympic Games qualification event, being staged Nov. 4-18 in Japan.
The U.S. broke a 7-7 tie in the opening set with three unanswered points and stretched the
lead to 22-14 before holding off Canada 25-19 down the stretch. In the second set, the
Americans rebounded from an 8-6 deficit with a 5-0 run and built a seven-point cushion at
21-14. Canada made the set interesting by closing to within three at 21-18 before the U.S.
was able to finish the set at 25-19. Canada recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the third set
and took an 8-6 lead into the technical timeout, only to have the Americans cruise to a
19-10 advantage on a 13-2 run. Canada did not go away quietly as it scored eight unanswered
points to move to within one at 23-22 before the U.S. could side-out to the 25-23 victory.
“I thought Canada played a good match,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh
McCutcheon said. “I thought we were good in a couple phases of the game. Offensively, we
could have been cleaner at the net. It was an okay start to the tournament, but we need to
be better tomorrow."
The U.S. was led by Destinee Hooker’s (San Antonio, Texas) 18 points on 16 kills via 34
attacks and two blocks. Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) tallied 10 points with seven kills
on 25 attacks and three aces, while Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) charted 10 points on
six kills via 10 swings, two blocks and two aces. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) collected
eight kills and a block for nine points, followed by Foluke Akinradewo’s (Plantation, Fla.)
eight points all on kills. Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) rounded out the scoring with an ace.
Berg was credited with 24 assists on 86 attempts as the Americans converted 45 of 112
attacks for a 40.2 percent. Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.) contributed a match-high 14
digs, while Hooker added seven digs. Larson charted 18 excellent receptions on 25 attempts,
while Tom recorded 11 excellent receptions on 22 attempts.
The U.S. limited Canada to a 29.7 kill percent for the match and held a 35-28 margin in
digs.
“I think we can come away from today’s match happy with our serve-receive,” U.S. captain
Jennifer Tamas said. “I hope we can improve in all facets of our game as we go along in the
tournament.”
“We allowed Canada to come back in all three sets to make the score closer, but a win is a
win,” Berg said. “Tomorrow against Trinidad & Tobago will be a different match. It is always
harder to set our rhythm against a team that is not as strong, but that will be something we
have to work on. Our goal will be to get in-and-out as quickly as possible.”
Canada out-blocked the Americans 11-5 to offset the Team USA 45-33 advantage in kills. The
U.S. held a 6-1 margin in aces and committed three fewer errors at 19-16.
McCutcheon started Tom and Larson at outside hitter, Akinradewo and Bown at middle blocker,
Hooker at opposite and Berg at setter. Davis was the designated libero for the match.
Sarah Pavan led Canada with 17 points with 15 kills, a block and ace. Marisa Field added
eight points in the loss, including a match-high four blocks.
“I thought we played well today,” Canada captain Tammy Mahon said. “I think we fixed some
things from yesterday’s performance. USA doesn’t give away too many points, so you have to
play well against them.”
“Congratulations to USA – they played really well today,” Canada coach Arnd Ludwig said. “We
had a better performance today than yesterday, and I am happy overall with our performance.”
Earlier today, Mexico (1-0) defeated Costa Rica (0-2) 25-21, 21-25, 25-11, 25-17 in Pool A
and Cuba (1-0) topped Panama (0-2) 25-13, 25-15, 25-7 in Pool C.
The U.S. took an early 5-3 lead in the opening set with a Hooker block and kill around a
Canadian error after trailing 3-2. After Canada came back to tie the set at 7-all,
Akinradewo started a 3-0 run with a kill followed by a Berg ace and Hooker kill to send the
score to 10-7. Tom and Larson notched consecutive kills to reach the second technical
timeout leading 16-12. After a Canada error, Hooker put up a block and Larson followed with
consecutive kills to push the score to 22-14. Canada rallied to 23-19 with a 5-1 scoring
spurt before Bown tallied consecutive blocks to end the set at 25-19.
Tom scored an ace between kills from Hooker and Larson to yield a 3-1 American lead in the
second set. Canada scored three straight points to nab a 5-4 advantage and reached the first
technical timeout leading 8-6 with three consecutive points. Out of the break, the Americans
scored five unanswered points with two kills from Akinradewo, a kill by Tom and ace by Bown
after a Canada error for an 11-8 margin. After Canada closed the gap to 11-10, Tom, Hooker
and Akinradewo pocketed kills followed by a Canada error to extend the American lead to
15-10. Team USA’s advantage reached seven points at 21-14. Canada produced four unanswered
points to move to within 21-18 before the U.S. could close out the set 25-19.
Hooker scored the first three points of the third set, only to have Canada shift into the
lead at 7-5 with a 7-2 run. After trailing 8-6 at the first technical timeout, Bown and Tom
turned in kills around two Canadian errors for an 11-8 advantage. The U.S. widened the gap
to 14-9 with kills from Hooker and Akinradewo around another Canada error. Tom highlighted a
5-0 surge with an ace bringing the American lead to 19-10. After trading points until 23-14,
Canada stormed back to within one at 23-22 with eight straight points put could not knot the
score. Hooker ended the set at 25-23 with a kill.
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