MORELIA, Mexico, October 1, 2015.- United States beat Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-17) at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship semifinal to defend their title against Dominican Republic at Bicentenario Auditorium of Morelia, Michoacan.
Both teams had errors in blocking and serving in set one; strong kills on both sides kept the score close and tied on several occasions, but Puerto Rico took a two point lead 12-10 that USA cut to reach the second technical time-out up 16-15. Neither one was dominant; USA won the set 25-20 with aggressive kills. USA held a huge 14-9 lead with powerful offense; the Americans’ blocking also performed well keeping Puerto Rico under control for the finish 25-18. USA jumped to the lead in the third set by 11-7, not allowing Puerto Rico to perform while being aggressive in kills. USA managed total control of the actions while finishing set three 25-17 and beating Puerto Rico.
United States prevailed over Puerto Rico with 44-30 margin in spikes, a huge 10-3 advantage in blocking and 2-0 margin in serves. United States committed 22 errors and scored on 19 opponent errors.
Outside Hitter Jordan Larson-Burbach led United States victory registering 13 points, followed by Middle Blocker Tetori Dixon and Opposite Nicole Fawcett with 12 and 13 points respectively. Outside Hitter Aurea Cruz topped Puerto Rico’s scorers with 9 points, while Middle Blocker Alexandra Oquendo and Opposite Karina Ocasio added 6 points apiece.
“We are very excited to be in the Gold Medal match, that’s the reason of being here” said Alisha Glass. “In the first set against Puerto Rico we were figuring things out and what to expect from each other” she added. About tomorrow’s match she said “Dominican Republic is very tough team, they are physical and have lots of energy, their libero is very good and they have tough offensive, we need to think about our side of the court”.
Coach Karch Kiraly said “Puerto Rico worked hard, I want to congratulate them, they defended well and forced long rallies for us to score and it was fun to play a powerful opponent. We committed many mistakes, especially on serves; we also did some things well exceeding our expectations. After tomorrow we would have faced all of the teams that we will be playing in January and for us that’s important because it will be the last chance that my players will perform together as they are leaving to play in their professional leagues and we will reassemble in December to prepare for the Olympic Qualification Tournament”.
Coach Juan Carlos Nuñez said “I wanted to play against the number one team in the world, it’s important to see what we are capable of. We respected each other, proof of that is that USA didn’t use their reserve players. Today our attacks weren’t effective and USA neutralized us well over the net. It would be nice to win the bronze tomorrow”.