United States win sixth Pan Am Cup title

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 14, 2018 – Defending champions United States came back all the way down from a 0-2 deficit to defeat host Dominican Republic 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-8) in front of a packed house at Ricardo Arias Pavilion in Santo Domingo on Saturday night.

It is the sixth title for the United States in the history of the Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup with the previous titles attained in 2003, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

The winners established a solid defense at the net which allowed them to score 17 blocks, including seven by Chiaka Ogbogu.

Aiyana Abukusomo-Whitney and Ogbogu blasted 27 and 21 points to lead the American attack (65-51) while Simone Lee and Haleigh Washington added 15 and 14 in the triumph.

Brayelin Martínez had 21 points as the best Dominican scorer followed by Gaila Gonzalez with 16 and Yonkaira Peña with 13.

Lauren Carlini, captain of United States: Once again I am very proud of my team and how we battled against the home court advantage. It was not an easy task. We battled point by point and with the game we improved our passing and got better playing cleaner volleyball.

Jonathan Newman-Gonchar, coach of United States: It took us two sets to adjust our game. Once we slowed down their two strong attackers we applied US pressure and finished the job. I am very proud of successfully defending the crown.