USA edged Dominican Republic in five sets

GAINESVILLE, Florida, July 29, 2006.- In a battle of undefeated teams in the NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Volleyball Championship, the Team USA had the last momentum swing in its favor to defeat Dominican Republic 25-10, 19-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-9 Saturday evening at the O’Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Today was the last day of round-robin preliminary action with the classification matches to be played on July 30. The teams, who had already gained spots in the championship match after victories on Friday, will have a rematch on Sunday for the tournament title. Both USA and Dominican Republic have qualified for the 2007 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship (U-18) held at Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico. NORCECA will have a third team in the tournament as Mexico has a berth as the host country.

Tarah Murrey sparked Team USA with 20 points, Michelle Bartsch contributed 12 points, Kelsey Brandl chipped in nine points and Kanani Herring and Chelsey Ringel posted 7 apiece for Team USA.

Dharlenis Marte led three Dominican Republic players in double-digit points with 16, Elisa Eve recorded 11, Kahoriz Feliz tallied 10 and Marifranchi Rodriguez gained nine points in the loss.

 “We wanted to win tonight, but we also felt it was really important for us to play at a level that could win the gold medal tomorrow night in the finals,” Team USA Head Coach Shelton Collier said. “We have some improvements we will need to make to win the gold medal tomorrow.”

Canada improved to 3-2 with a 25-14, 25-13, 25-7 victory over Honduras with Megan Ellis leading the offense scoring 11 points.

Canadian Tabitha Love chipped in nine, Ali Sandholm scored 8 coming off the bench, and Becky Pavan added 7 points in the victory. Karla Ponce tallied 9 for Honduras (0-5).

In the second match of Saturday, Puerto Rico secured a spot in the third-place match with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-18 victory over Mexico.

Both teams entered the match with identical 1-3 records and competing for the second spot in the match for the bronze medal.

On Sunday, Puerto Rico (2-3) will play Canada (3-2) for third place, while Mexico (1-4) will play Honduras (0-5) opening the last day program.

Lorraine Aviles and Stephanie Enright tied for match-high honors with 16 points to pace the Puerto Rican team. Joely Narvaez contributed 15 points and Sol Gonzalez charted nine points.

Lorena Sanchez led Mexico with seven points and Valery Garza, Xitlali Corrujedo and Karla Alonso added six points apiece.