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MIAMI,
Florida, June 29, 2009.- The United
States (4-0) defeated Peru (2-2) 25-22, 25-21,
26-24 on Monday evening during the Eighth
Women’s Pan American Cup at the University of
Miami’s BankUnited Center.
The victory sets up a key match between
undefeated USA and Puerto Rico on the final day
of pool play. The USA-Puerto Rico winner will
automatically advance to the tournament’s second
round and have two days to prepare as July 1 is
an off day in the schedule and pool winners
receive a bye on July 2.
Five Team USA players reached double-digit
scoring in a balanced offense. Jordan Larson led
the U.S. with a match-high 14 points that
included 12 kills and two aces. Kristin Richards
added 13 points on 12 kills and an ace, while
Nancy Metcalf chipped in 13 points. Danielle
Scott-Arruda was credited with five blocks as
part of an 11-point night, while Christa
Harmotto contributed 10 points with three
blocks.
Patricia Soto paced Peru with 11 points, while
Yulissa Zamudio added nine points. Leyla Chihuan
tacked on eight points in the loss, while
teammate Jessenia Uceda put down seven points.
U.S. absorbed every rally from Peru to take the
hard-fought three-set match. The Americans held
a slim 23-22 lead in the opening set before
Richards and Larson put down back-to-back kills
for the set victory. Team USA led 23-13 in the
second set and held off the Peru come back for a
25-21 victory. Peru led the third set with
scores of 5-2, 11-5 and 20-14 only to have the
U.S. come back. Larson served during a stretch
of seven unanswered points to give the U.S. a
21-20 lead. After Peru held off two match points
when down 24-22, the Americans finished off the
rally at 26-24.
U.S. out-paced Peru on offense with a 50-31 kill
advantage and kept the visitors off-balance with
a 4-0 ace margin. However, Peru’s block came
alive in the match as part of a 14-8 block
advantage.
“We showed a new level of play tonight and
limited our errors,” Peru Assistant Coach
Natalia Malaga Dibos said. “Tonight’s effort and
performance will help our team progress toward
the classification round. The U.S. is obviously
a strong team at the net, but they played well
when needed. We obviously need to fix some areas
to get to the next level that they are at.”
“We expected a tough match from Peru and that
is what we got,” U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon
said. “Some of our problems tonight are my fault
as we are putting in a lot of changes to this
team, both in technique and system. I was happy
that we found a way to win and battle through
the challenge.”
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