WINNIPEG, Canada, September 22, 2007.- Cuba edged USA in a gruelling five-setter by scores of 22-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 18-16  to win the gold medal match at the  NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

Based on reaching the NORCECA championship match, both Cuba and Team USA claimed berths into the FIVB World Cup held Nov. 2-16 in Japan.

Rosir Calderon pocketed 22 points to lead Cuba. Nancy Carillo, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and top spiker, tallied 20 points for Cuba. Daimi Ramirez added 19 points, while Yumilka Ruiz collected 13 points.

Heather Bown led USA with 22 points, Ogona Nnamani added 19, Danielle Scott-Arruda contributed 17 and Jennifer Joines tallied 15 points. More Spanish P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 22, 2007.- A hard hitting Dominican team came out firing in today’s Bronze Medal Final at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship, edging Canada in an emotional five setter by a score of 3-2.  Set scores were 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13 in favour of the Dominican Republic.

Bethania de la Cruz and Cosiri Rodriguez led the Dominican victory with 23 and 21 points respectively, Milagros Cabral added 12 and Elina Eve and Cindy Rondon each contributed 11 tallies. Tiffany Dodds led Canada with 19 points, Emely Cordonier had  13 and Stacey Gordon and Tasha Holnes scored 10 points apiece.

“I knew it was going to be a very hard match playing Canada in Canada, especially with the young and inexperienced players we have in our roster” said Miguel Beato Cruz, Head Coach of Dominican Republic. “Now we will return home and train with our senior players who are returning from injuries and arrive in December in Mexico with a strong and compact team.”More Spanish P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 22, 2007.- While Mexico has reached their goal of playing for 5 at this event, Puerto Rico believe they have fallen short. However, they know that they must regroup and focus on the task at hand. They must put disappointment aside and come out to play against this feisty Mexican team who will be more than willing to take advantage of the situation.

Both teams displayed that they were here to fight. Puerto Rico held a 2-point advantage up 8-6 at the first break in play and was able to build of that to lead 16-10 by the second time out. Mexico seemed uninterested in fighting so the result was a 25-16 Puerto Rico victory.

Neither team came out all the inspired in the second set. Mexico seemed to show the will only will to win and was rewarded with an 8-7 lead at the first time out. A talk from their coach and Puerto Rico came back out with a little more fight taking over the lead at 11-10. More P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 22, 2007.- This is always a difficult match for these teams. After a long week of volleyball it comes down to one last game. While there may not seem like much is on the line, in fact there is a great deal of pride, and both these teams are developing and would like to leave this event knowing that they finished strong.

Set one was closely contested with Trinidad and Tobago opening an 8-7 lead at the firs time out. The set would remain tied up at 14-14 when Costa Rica opened took the only 2-point lead of the set up 16-14 at the second official time out. Costa Rica fed off this widening the gap taking a 22-17 lead on their way to an eventual 25-19 set one victory.

Costa Rica seemed to find their stride in the second set jumping out to an 8-5 lead at the first break in play. The Costa Ricans continued to march on adding to their point total to lead 16-10 at the halfway point in the set. Trinidad continued to fight to get back in the set but they could not overcome the Costa Rican lead, which won the set 25-20. More  P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 21, 2007.- The USA Women’s National Volleyball secured a spot in the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship gold medal match by defeating tournament host Canada 25-18, 25-11, 25-23 in the semi final round on Friday evening at Winnipeg, Canada.

Ogonna Nnamani tallied a match-high 18 points, Danielle Scott-Arruda chipped in 13 points and Cassie Busse totaled 10 points. Stacey Gordon led Canada with 11 points and Tasha Holness added eight points in the loss.

Team USA, the three-time defending NORCECA champion, will face Cuba in the gold medal match on Saturday. At the last NORCECA Championship tournament held in 2005 at Trinidad & Tobago, Team USA defeated Cuba with a five-set victory. Cuba has won the tournament a record 12 times in the 19 previous editions.  More 

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 21, 2007.- This will no doubt be an emotional match. Cuba has shown so far that they are composed and here to win, however, the Dominican Republic believe that they at a point in their development that they rightfully belong in the mix with top teams such as Cuba and the USA. With that in mind, they enter tonight’s match with the confidence that they can defeat Cuba and take that next step towards Olympic qualification.

Both teams came out in set one with the artillery firing, exchanging high-flying kills. Cuba held the advantage at the first break in play by a score of 8-6. By the second break, Cuba had increased their lead off some great blocking to 16-12. The Dominican’s would ultimately give the set away as a result of a number of unforced errors losing 25-15.

Set two Cuba started where they left off leading 8-7 lead at the first time out. Cuba remained on top to the mid-way point leading 16-11.   More  P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 21, 2007.- While there is certainly some lingering disappointment by Puerto Rico, they know that the need to come into this match prepared and ready to get back on track. Every match at this event has significance, and while Puerto Rico would still like to finish in 5, Trinidad & Tobago have their own goals and objectives to reach in this match and tomorrows.

This was somewhat of an unfair match up. Puerto Rico immediately showed their dominance jumping to a 5-0 lead and up 8-2 at the time out. Trinidad was never really in contention after that as Puerto Rico took set one 25-11. More  P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 21, 2007.- This match will likely go to the wire. Both teams believe they are capable of wining this match and finishing this event in 5 or 6 position. They are very similar teams with respect to their current situation. Both teams are boasting young players and are is a re-building stage of their respective programs. A strong finish at this event would go a long way for either of these teams.

It was evident early on that Costa Rica was here to play as they took a demanding 6-0 lead in the opening set. Mexico has gotten a couple on the board by the first technical time out but continued to trail 8-2. Mexico slowly began creeping their way back into the set, however, thy still trailed 16-10 by the mid-way point of the set. Capitalizing on some Costa Rican unforced errors, Mexico would come within two, More  P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 20, 2007.- The Canadian Women recovered from a slow start and routed Mexico 3-0 in their quarterfinal match up at the NORCECA Championship. Set scores were 25-17, 25-10, 25-16.

Tammy Mahon, Stacey Gordon and Tasha Holness all contributed equally, fronting the Canadian attack with 10 points apiece in the contest.  Emily Cordonier ended off the match with 9 points of her own, including 3 service aces.

Canada’s quest for a medal is still alive as their victory this evening advances them to the Semi-Finals tomorrow where they will find themselves across the court from neighbouring USA.  The first Semi-Final of the day sees a mighty Cuban squad face off with Dominican Republic.
 
"This was a very important game for us. We worked very hard to get to this point. Our goal in this tournament was to make it to the top four and we have accomplished that." Stated Canada’s Captain Emily Cordonier.  More Spanish P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 20, 2007.- Bethania de la Cruz and Cosiri Rodriguez each scored 22 points leading the Dominican Republic to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-15 victory over Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

The victory enables the Dominican Republic to advance to a semi final match against Cuba on Friday.

Milagros Cabral contributed 9 points to the Dominican victory while Sheila Ocasio led Puerto Rico with 9 tallies and Eva Cruz and Dariam Acevedo had 8 points apiece.

It was a tough battle for the first two sets between the two Caribbean rivals, but in the third set, the Dominicans took an early lead and never looked back. More Spanish P-2 form

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 19, 2007.- As the three-time defending NORCECA Women’s Continental Champion, the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team moved one step closer to a fourth consecutive title by defeating Dominican Republic 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 on Wednesday evening on the final day of pool play at the 2007 NORCECA event in Winnipeg, Canada.

Team USA, as the winner of Pool B with a 3-0 record, advances directly to the tournament’s semifinal round on Friday. The time and opponent will be determined after Thursday’s quarterfinal matches. Dominican Republic finishes Pool B with a 2-1 record and will face Puerto Rico (1-2 in Pool A) in the quarterfinal round. More P-2 form

Canada, September 19-2007. A match that looked promising in the beginning for Team Canada, slowly fizzled as the Canadians were downed by Cuba in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-10).

The world ranked fifth, Cubans progressively got better throughout the game and eventually overpowered the Canadians in front of another packed home crowd at the Investor Group Athletic Centre.

Cuba was lead in scoring by Yanelis Santos Allegne with 13 points (8 kills, 3 blocks, 2 aces). Tiffany Dodds had another strong outing at the Women’s NORCECA Championship, leading Canada in scoring for the second time in the tournament with 9 points (5 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace).

"We were expecting and believing that we could win, but we didn’t show it on the court," said Dodds. "We just couldn’t get into our blocking rhythm tonight. Where ever we put a solid block, they hit around it." More

Canada, September 19-2007. This was going to be a good test for Puerto Rico after a long fight with Canada the night before and a difficult loss that was evident on the players faces. Costa Rica had nothing to lose and could come out and play a relaxed game.

The first few points of the first set indicated that this contest might be closer than many would have thought, but a 4-4, Puerto Rico started to take control and would lead 8-4 at the first time out. That point gap would remain intact to the second time out with Puerto Rico remaining in front by a score of 16-12, and would not differ any as the result was a Puerto Rico 25-16 win.

Puerto Rico continued to dominate starting the second set with an 8-3 lead at the first time out. They would continue to lead 16-9 at the second time out and cruised to a 25-13 second set victory..  More P-2 form

Canada, 19 de septiembre, 2007.Today’s match had more meaning to Mexico who was looking to secure a spot in tomorrow’s quarterfinals. For Trinidad and Tobago it was an opportunity to improve and gain the experience that they came here for, and prepare for their classification match against Costa Rica.

Mexico set the pace of the first set leading 8-2 and 16-9 at the technical time outs. However Trinidad and Tobago battled back to within two down 16-18 in the late stages of the set. But Mexico responded to the challenge and pulled away to a 25-22 victory.

Set two was a much tighter match-up to start with Mexico holding an 8-5 lead at the first time out. They would maintain their lead up 16-9 at the second time out. That seemed to be the way the rest of the set would finish, as there was no real change in the play of either team with Mexico winning 25-16.

The third set witnessed an inspired Trinidadian team as they jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead. Mexico picked away at the lead but remained down by one with Trinidad & Tobago leading 8-7 at the first time out.  More P-2 form

Canada, September 18, 2007. Today’s game was looking like it would be the battle of the day. These two teams both needed this win to ensure an opportunity at a semi-final and for Canada, a chance to play Cuba for top spot in Pool B.

The first set certainly didn’t disappoint. It was full of incredible action right from the first whistle. Puerto Rico maintained a lead in the early parts of the match, up 8-7 and 16-14 at the two technical time outs. But it was Canada that rallied in the end. They out scored Puerto Rico to gain the lead 20-17 then took over at the net with the ‘Great Canadian Wall’ and literally blocked their way to a first set victory 25-20.

Still buzzing from the first set, the Canadian crowd cheered the Canadian team on.  More P-2 form

Canada, September 18, 2007. This match can be described as a modern day David and Goliath. While anything can happen on the court, it will take some exceptional play for Costa Rica to topple Cuba. Cuba, a world class program that has produced a team that is respected as one of the best in the world, while Costa Rica, who has been improving drastically over the past few years is still not at the same competitive level as Cuba.

Cuba stormed out to a 5-0 in the first set, but Costa Rica reduced the deficit to 8-5 at the first time out. Cuba picked up their game to lead 16-10 at the second technical time out and forced a Costa Rican time out when they added 2 more to lead 18-10. There was no looking back for Cuba at that point as they took set one 25-14.

Cuba seemed to be able to attack at will in set two. Costa Rica was putting up a valiant fight, but Cuba was just to strong leading 8-2 and 16-6 at the technical time outs. Costa Rica could not seem to find a solution for the huge Cuban block and tough serves and was defeated in set two by a score of 25-8. More P-2 form

Canada, September 18, 2007, While Mexico has come to this event with a young team, in the early phases of rebuilding, they came into this match looking to learn from the USA and to execute their game plan and prepare their team for the upcoming NORCECA Olympic qualifier in Mexico in December. The USA, while suffering from a number of injuries to key players is still a powerhouse and is looking to be in the final of this event, securing them a shot at an Olympic berth.

The USA was all business in the first set. They literally smothered the Mexican team with blocks and over powered them with their attack. The USA was leading by insurmountable scores of 8-1 and 16-4 at the technical time outs and finished the set with a 25-6 victory.

Mexico came out with a little more fight in the second set, however the USA maintained the rhyme they had from the first set to lead 8-6 at the first time out. Mexico would fight to stay in the set forcing the USA to time out down only 10-12.  More P-2 form

Canada, September 18, 2007, Today’s game was going to see two teams, one that is a team that is quickly emerging as a world power and another emerging onto the international volleyball scene. Despite the lopsided competition, both teams would come out of the match having gained experience or furthering their opportunity to qualify for the Olympics.

It was clearing the first set that the Dominican Republic was conserving energy and doing only what was need to win. This is not to say they were not respecting their worthy opponent. The Dominican’s led for the entire set up 8-3 and 16-10 at the technical time outs and easily cruised on to an opening set victory of 25-13.

Sets 2 and 3 were much of the same. The power and experience of the Dominican team was just too much for Trinidad and Tobago. But despite the scores, you could see the improvement and the passion on the Trinidadians faces.  More

September17,2007,It was going to be a fitting end to a great opening day of volleyball at the 2007 NORCECA Continental Championships. After 3 great matches, perhaps the best showdown of the evening was going to be Cuba vs. Puerto Rico, with two to great teams both looking to come out of the pool play on top.

As expected, the teams did not disappoint the crowd. They came out flying and exchanging powerful spikes and incredible digs. Puerto Rico took the first lead up 8-6 at the first time out, however Cuba reversed that by the second time out to lead by one up 16-15. The Cubans took advantage of some sloppy play late in the set by Puerto Rico to increase their lead and take the first set 25-22.

Set two was another tight affair with Cuba taking a narrow 8-7 lead at the first time out. Not much would change as Cuba continued to hold the advantage up 16-14. Neither team was prepared to give up much but Puerto Rico was able to find a little space in the Cuba court to tie the set at 19-19. More P-2 form

Canada, September 17, 2007, As expected this was going to be a well-fought battle between these two teams. Mexico a team looking to work their way back into the international ranks while the Dominican have established themselves as a top ranked team, however, have suffered this season with injuries and are here with a mixed team of experience and youth.

It was a tight race right from the first whistle with the Dominican Republic holding a narrow 16-13 lead at the second technical time out. They would further that lead thanks to the powerful attack of their team Captain Cosiri Rodriguez. It was enough to take the first set 25-17.

The Dominican used the momentum in set one opening an 8-5 lead, but Mexico responded to tie the set 10 and then go up buy one to lead 16-15 at the second technical time out. The Dominican had an immediate response as they quickly went up 21-17 forcing a Mexican time out.  More P-2 form

Canada, September 17, 2007,It has been some time since the Canadian women’s team has hosted an event of this caliber and they are prepared to put it all on the line in front of their hometown crowd. While the Canadian’s are on an upswing with the rebuilding of their program, they will need to take this Costa Rican team seriously as they too are making waves in the NORCECA volleyball community.

The Canadians took advantage of the hometown momentum right out of the gates opening a 2-point lead and then up by 4 points 16-12 by the second technical time out.   More P-2 form

Canada, September 17, 2007, It was going to be the battle of their lives for this young Trinidad and Tobago team as they opened the event against three-time Champions USA. They came to this event for the experience, and there is no better way to get than to play the best.

The USA showed their dominance right from the start of the match quickly opening up an insurmountable 16-6 lead by the second technical time-out. Trinidad showed some fight but the USA remained strong taking the first set 25-9.  More P-2 form