USA Girls Sweeps Dominican Republic for NORCECA’s U-18 Crown

GAINESVILLE, Florida, July 30, 2006.- The USA Girls’ Youth National Team swept Dominican Republic 25-13, 25-22, 25-13 in the championship match of the NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Volleyball Championship held at the University of Florida’s O’Connell Center in Gainesville.

USA and Dominican Republic have earned entries into 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 finished the contest with 17 points and Kelsey Brand added 10 points in the sweep. Jeoselyna Rodriguez led Dominican Republic with 11 points.

“I am so proud of this group of young players for winning this event,” Team USA Head Coach Shelton Collier said. “They were coachable, responsible and made so much progress in such a short time.”

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico swept Canada 25-23, 25-20, 27-25 for third place with Joely Narvaez producing a match-high 20 points.

Shirley Ferrer and Stephanie Enright tallied nine points apiece in the victory. Becky Pavan paced Canada with 12, Tabitha Love contributed nine points off the bench and Kelly Frittenburg and Shanice Marcelle had 8 apiece.

Earlier on Sunday, Mexico captured fifth place of the competition with a 25-14, 25-14, 25-14 victory over Honduras.

Carolina Carranza sparked Mexico with 12 points, while Valery Garza added 11 and Lorena Sanchez contributed 10 points that included five aces. Karla Ponce and Jhosselin Mejia each had 9 points for Honduras in the loss.