USA won the gold at NORCECA Women’s Junior Championship

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 5, 2006.- The USA Team captured the gold medal at the NORCECA Continental Women’s Junior Championship with a 25-15, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 15-9 marathon five-set victory over Dominican Republic on Saturday evening. Team USA and Dominican Republic have qualified for the 2007 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship (U-20) as the top two teams in this bi-annual NORCECA event. Puerto Rico swept Canada 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 in bronze medal match tch and also qualified for the world tournament as the third-place team. “I'm very proud of how the team stayed together, stayed with the game plan in the fifth set after losing the third and fourth,” Team USA Head Coach Craig Skinner said.  More Spanish

Dominican Republic and USA will battle for the gold at NORCECA U-20 

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 4, 2006.- Dominican Republic and USA advanced to the match for the gold medal at NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament and also secured berths for the 2007 Junior World Championship. The Dominicans defeated Puerto Rico in a close match 25-23, 27-25, 18-25, 25-21 and the Americans took a 25-12, 25-18, 25-21 victory against Canada. In the match for fifth place Cuba walked over Mexico with a 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 triumph. Puerto Rico will meet Canada on Saturday for the bronze medal and the winner will get also a ticket for next year’s World Championship. Bethania de la Cruz led Dominican Republic with 25 points and got help from Ana Fabian and Altagracia Mambru who added 15 and 14 points respectively. Yarimar Rosa scored 18 for Puerto Rico and Emily Calderon added 16. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans engaged in a close battle during the whole match but at the end the better serves and reception sent Dominican Republic to the final match of the competition. “It was a great battle as I expected because Puerto Rico is a very tough competitor,” said Wilson Sanchez, the Dominican coach. “My players were mentally prepared for that kind of resistance.” More Spanish

Puerto Rico and Canada join the semi final round at NORCECA U-20

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 3, 2006.- Teams of Puerto Rico and Canada completed the list of semi finalists at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament, where the top two teams will qualify for the 2007 Junior World Championship. Following a dramatic five-set triumph over Cuba 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-11, 15-9, the Puerto Ricans will face Dominican Republic in the first semi final match on Friday while Canada will play USA after its four-set win against host Mexico by score of 23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-22. The Puerto Rican’s serves and their overall defense was the key for the victory in the fourth set and the tie-breaker. “My respect to the Cuban team which played a great match,” said Luis Garcia, the Puerto Rican coach. “But my players never let their rhythm to get down and we kept the strength of our serves and the good defense to prevail.”  More Spanish

Dominican Republic and USA to semi finals in NORCECA U-20

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 2, 2006.- Dominican Republic and USA advanced to the semi finals of the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Tournament and will benefit of a rest day on Thursday in this qualifier for the 2007 Juniors World Championship. The Dominicans edged past Mexico in five sets 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 22-25, 15-9, and the Americans got a 25-20, 24-26, 25-14, 25-15 victory against Canada. On Thursday, Puerto Rico meet Cuba and Mexico clash with Canada in the quarterfinals. Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica will play for the seventh position. The Dominicans showed their traditional offensive game with good blocking but had to face the strong opposition of the host squad supported by more than 3,000 spectators at Nuevo Leon Gymnasium. “ More Spanish

Mexico defeated Cuba in NORCECA’s U-20 

MONTERREY, Mexico, August 1, 2006.- Host Mexico produced a major surprise in defeating Cuba and keeping an unbeaten record in Pool A at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament.  Supported by an enthusiastic crowd of more than 3,000, the Mexicans beat the Cubans (0-2) by score of 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 29-27, and now will meet Dominican Republic on Wednesday for the top spot in their pool and a direct ticket to the semi final round of the competition. In other matches on Tuesday, Puerto Rico beat Canada in four sets, Dominican Republic defeated Trinidad & Tobago and USA crushed Costa Rica. During the whole match, the Mexicans showed consistency and the blocking created problems to their rivals. Their attack was led by Captain Zaida Orellana. The win marked the first all-time victory for Mexico over Cuba in junior women’s volleyball and the first in all levels of the gender since 1970. “It was a well fought match and we entered the court with a positive mentality about our chances to win it,”  More Spanish

Dominican Republic, USA, Canada and Mexico start on right track 

MONTERREY, México, July 31, 2006.- Dominican Republic, USA, Canada and Mexico started on the right track at the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament where the top two teams will qualify for the World Championship next year. The Dominicans used strong serves and effective blocking to defeat Cuba 25-21, 25-13, 25-21, USA relied on its size to beat Puerto Rico 25-14, 24-26, 25-15, 25-21,  Canada prevailed over Costa Rica 25-10, 25-18, 25-17 and Mexico walked over Trinidad & Tobago 25-5, 25-9, 25-13. Altagracia Mambru led the Dominican attack with 12 points and Cindy Rondon and Bethania de la Cruz each added 10. “We came here very well prepared and our goal is clear: Winning the crown,” said Wilson Sanchez, the Dominican coach. “We know the Cuban strong style, very similar to ours. We worked on our strong serves trying to create problems to their reception.” The match USA-Puerto Rico had up and downs in both sides but the Americans used their height advantage as the key for the outcome.  More Spanish

NORCECA Women’s U-20 begin today in Monterrey 

MONTERREY, Mexico, July 31, 2006.- Eight teams begin today the battle for two available spots in the NORCECA Women’s U-20 Continental Tournament for next year FIVB Volleyball Championship. Dominican Republic, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico will play in Pool A and defending champions USA, Puerto Rico, Canada and Costa Rica will compete in Pool A of the event to be held at Gimnasio Nuevo Leon. The top two ranked teams of this competition will advance to the 2007 U-20 Women’s World Championship in a country still to be announced. Among the players taking part, some of the standouts are Dominican middle-blocker Cindy Rondon, with experience in the Italian A-1 League, Cuban Lisandra Valdez and Puerto Rican Yarimar Rosa, the second best scorer at the U-20 World Championship last year in Turkey. The winner of each pool automatically advance to the semi finals while the second and third ranked teams of each pool will meet in crossed matches in the quarterfinals round. The matches for third place and the championship will be played on August 5. Spanish.... Pic. Cindy Rondon