BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 27, 2009 – Dominican Republic saved four match-points in the fourth set and went on to defeat hosts Puerto Rico 19-25, 25-23, 16-25, 32-30, 15-8 in the final match of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship played in front of more than 7,000  enthusiastic spectators.

The victory earned the Dominicans the ticket to the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup next November in Japan. Prisilla Rivera and Bethania de la Cruz each recorded 22 points for the winners and Lisvel Eve added 11. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, 27 de septiembre, 2009 – La dominicana Prisilla Rivera fue electa como Jugadora Más Valiosa del Campeonato Continental NORCECA de Mujeres ganado por su equipo en un emocionante encuentro final contra Puerto Rico.

Brenda Castillo, también de República Dominicana, fue la jugadora más premiada de la ceremonia de clausura llevándose los trofeos como mejor defensora, mejor receptora y mejor libero.

Las cubanas Yanelis Santos y Nancy Carrillo fueron seleccionadas como mejor servidora y bloqueadora respectivamente y su joven compañera de equipo Wilma Salas recibió el premio como “estrella naciente”. La estadounidense Nancy Metcalf resultó la mejor rematadora y las puertorriqueñas Aurea Cruz y Vilmarie Mojica fueron recipientes.  More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 27, 2009 – For second time in the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship, Cuba erased a 0-2 deficit to defeat United States and take home the bronze medal. The match finished 17-25, 16-25, 28-26, 25-16, 15-11.

Wilma Salas led Cuba with 15 points and Nancy Carrillo followed with 14 including five blocks. Yanelis Santos and Yusidey Silie added 13 and 10 points respectively, and Rachel Sanchez came from the bench to record 9 points including three blocks. Nancy Metcalf led USA with 17 points. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 27, 2009 – Canada scored a 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 victory over Mexico and finished in the fifth position of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

Tiffany Dodds (13), Brittney Page (11) and Marisa Field (10) all scored in double figures for the winning side. Mexican Cecilia Rios topped all the players with 17 points and Grecia Rivera added 12.

“I am happy with the fifth place,” said Arnd Ludwig, the coach of Canada. “We are ahead of teams like Mexico and Costa Rica and separated behind the top four of NORCECA. Our goal in the near future is to get closer to those teams.” More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 27, 2009 – Costa Rica defeated Trinidad & Tobago in the match for the seventh position of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The score was 25-18, 25-22, 25-23.

Verania and Angela Willis paced Costa Rica with 14 and 13 points and Karen Cope added 9 tallies. Krystle Esdelle recorded a match-high 17 points for the losers. “We came here without some of our regulars and couldn’t finish in the position we had in mind,” said Braulio Godinez, the coach of Costa Rica.  More Spanish

AYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 26, 2009 – Hosts Puerto Rico recorded an emotional five-set victory against Cuba  21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 21-19 to reach the finals of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship against Dominican Republic.

Aurea Cruz carried the load of the Puerto Rican attack with 26 points and Sarai Alvarez added 19. Cuban Nancy Carrillo totaled 21 points, Yanelis Santos and Kenia Carcaces each totaled 17 and Wilma Salas chipped in 10. “It is a lot of joy for us to be in our first final,” More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 26, 2009 – Dominican Republic prevailed in a dramatic five-set match against United States advancing to the gold medal match of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The contest lasted 2 hours and five minutes and finished 21-25, 26-24, 10-25, 25-20, 21-19.

The win secures Dominican Republic its best result ever in the regional competition after winning the bronze medal in the last four editions and five of the past six. Dominican Milagros Cabral topped five teammates in double-figures. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 26, 2009 – Canada defeated Costa Rica 25-17, 25-16, 25-22  and will meet Mexico on Sunday in a contest for the fifth position at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The losers will play Trinidad & Tobago for the seventh place.

Canada controlled the match all the way and used mostly reserve players during the third and last set. The North Americans dominated in blocks 14-6 and also in serving aces 5-2. Brittney Page led the winners with 16 points and Tiffany Dodds and Marisa Field tallied 8 apiece. Page and Field each recorded five blocks. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 26, 2009 – Mexico claimed a 25-20, 25-16, 25-16 victory over Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday advancing to a match for the fifth position at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

The winners, who built a 7-2 advantage in the aces department, relied on their serves to put pressure on the bigger Trinidadians. Olivia Meza led Mexico with 18 points and Grecia Rivera and Karla Sainz contributed 14 and 10 respectively. Cecilia Rios charted nine points including three aces. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 25, 2009 – Puerto Rico downed Mexico in straight sets 25-11, 25-15, 25-15 advancing to the semi final round of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The home team now will play against defending champions Cuba on Saturday.

Puerto Rico committed only 14 errors and outscored Mexico 9-2 in blocks and 7-1 in the aces category.

Alexandra Oquendo and Aurea Cruz topped Puerto Rico with 12 and 11 points respectively with Cruz compiling four blocks. Sarai Alvarez contributed 8 tallies. Mexicans Olivia Meza and Cecilia Rios each charted 7 points.  More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 25, 2009 – United States bounced back from losing the first set and defeated resilient Canada 17-25, 25-10, 25-23, 25-21 advancing to a semi final match against Dominican Republic at the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The match lasted 1 hour and 41 minutes.

American Jordan Larson had 15 points, including three blocks and one ace, while Nicole Fawcett also had 15 tallies all but one via attacks. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 24, 2009 - Dominican Republic claimed a 25-21, 28-30, 25-16, 25-22 win over Puerto Rico to win Pool A of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

Annerys Vargas and Prisilla Rivera each scored 15 points and Lisvel Eve added 14 tallies. Altagracia Mambru and Milagros Cabral contributed 11 apiece. Auera Cruz and Sarai Alvarez compiled 16 and 14 respectively for Puerto Rico. “We achieved one of our goals by qualifying first. Puerto Rico always plays hard against us but we need to continue training for the World Championship,”  More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 24, 2009 – USA crushed Costa Rica 25-7, 25-10, 25-12 to finish in second place of Pool B in the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. They now will meet Canada, third in Pool A, in the Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Americans built a 12-2 advantage in the blocking department led by Christa Harmotto and Elisha Thomas with 5 and 3 respectively. Cynthia Barboza paced the winners with 12 points and Thomas added 10. Verania Willis topped Costa Rica with 9 points. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 24, 2009 – Defending champions Cuba pushed aside Mexico 25-15, 25-13, 25-14 advancing directly to the semi finals of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship with a 3-0 record in Pool B. The losers dropped to 1-2.

The taller Cubans took advantage of their size and overmatched the Mexicans in blocks 15-1 with Yanelis Santos and Ana Cleger recording four apiece.

Santos, who also had three aces, led Cuba with 14 points and Giselle Silva added 12 including two aces. Cecilia Rios topped Mexico with 10 points. “We achieved our first objective by finishing first,” said Yusidey Silie, captain of Cuba. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 24, 2009 – Canada defeated Trinidad & Tobago in straight sets 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 to secure a berth in the quarterfinals of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

Ashley Voth topped the winners with 12 points and Krystle Esdelle had a match-high 20 points for the losers.

“I hope we still have to play our best volleyball in the tournament,” said Tammy Mahon, the captain of Canada. “Today was a good test for us and we need to be sharper in the upcoming matches.” “It was a very good match for us against a team like Canada with good blocking and powerful hitters,” said Krystle Esdelle of Trinidad & Tobago. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 23, 2009 – Puerto Rico defeated Canada in straight sets 25-22, 25-23, 25-21 and remained tied with Dominican Republic atop of Pool A in the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. Both teams have 2-0 record while Canada dropped to 0-2.

Aury Cruz paced Puerto Rico with 16 points including 4 blocks and Sarai Alvarez and Tatiana Encarnacion added 14 and 12 points respectively. Tiffany Dodds was the only Canadian in double figures charting 11 points and Tammy Mahon tallied nine. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 23, 2009 – Wilma Salas scored six of her 14 points in the tie-breaker inspiring Cuba to complete a sensational comeback to defeat United States and remain unbeaten in Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship with 2-0 record. The score was 19-25, 16-25, 25-16, 28-26, 15-10.

The Cubans outmatched their opponents 14-7 in the blocking category and came out victors despites committing 44 errors compared to 21 by the losers. Nancy Carrillo led Cuba with 23 points including 5 blocks. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 23, 2009 – Dominican Republic cruised to an easy 25-12, 25-10, 25-7 victory over Trinidad & Tobago improving to a 2-0 record in Pool A of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship.

The Dominicans recorded 9 aces during the match that lasted only 53 minutes and outscored the Trinidadians 7-5 in blocks.

Lisvel Eve led the winners with 10 points and Milagros Cabral contributed 9.  More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 23, 2009 – Mexico defeated Costa Rica 3-1 (28-26, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19) to even its record at 1-1 in Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The losers dropped to 0-2 mark.

Mexican Cecilia Rios led her side with 21 points and Karla Sainz added 14. Grecia Duran chipped in 9 points. Costa Rican Verania Willis had a match-high 26 points and Karen Cope and Angela Willis recorded 15 and 13 respectively.

“We came to play really focused in order to give our best effort playing against one team which have had success against us lately,” said Samuel Cibrian, the Mexican coach. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 22, 2009 – Hosts Puerto Rico capped the opening day of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 win over Trinidad & Tobago before around 2,500 fans at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum of Bayamon.

Puerto Rico blanked its opponent 7-0 in the aces category and also took advantage of 33 errors of Trinidad & Tobago. Sarai Alvarez led Puerto Rico with 14 points followed by Tatiana Encarnacion and Aurea Cruz with 8 and 7 respectively. Kelly-Anne Billingy had 10 points. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 22, 2009 – Dominican Republic defeated Canada in consecutive frames by score of 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 in the first match of Pool A of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum.

Prisilla Rivera and Milagros Cabral topped the Dominican offense with 15 and 12 points respectively and Lisvel Eve and Altagracia Mambru added 9 and 8. Tammy Mahon and Tiffany Dodds charted 15 and 11 points for Canada. “We know Canada and prepared well for them. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 22, 2009 – Cuba recorded a 3-1 victory over Costa Rica in the second match of Pool B of NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship. The score was 25-14, 25-10, 22-25, 25-20.

Cubans Yusidey Silie and Kenia Carcaces each compiled 17 points with Silie recording 4 blocks and 3 aces. Wilma Salas contributed 15 and Giselle Silva charted 11 tallies. Verania and Angela Willis had 12 and 9 points respectively for Costa Rica. Cuba outscored its opponent 10-3 in blocks and 13-9.  More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 22, 2009 – USA scored a straight sets victory 25-18, 25-10, 25-13 over a young team of Mexico in the opening match of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum on Tuesday.

The bigger Americans erased a two-point deficit at 15-13 in the first set and never looked back. They dominated 6-1 and 5-1 in serving aces and blocks respectively. Nancy Metcalf and Cynthia Barboza led USA with 11 and 10 points and Jordan Larson tallied 9 points. More Spanish

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, September 21, 2009 – Five teams have a fair chance of winning the NORCECA Women’s Continental Tournament and booking the single ticket available to the FIVB Grand Champions Cup to be staged in Japan next November, according to Hugh McCutcheon, the USA head coach.

The experienced McCutcheon, who politely rejected the label of big favorite for his side, made his statements on the eve of the competition which runs through September 22-27. His list of favorites includes Dominican Republic. More Spanish

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 18, 2009 – Eight teams will be competing in the biennial NORCECA Women’s Continental Tournament for the regional bragging rights and the single ticket available to the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in November.

The event will take place at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum of Bayamón, Puerto Rico through September 22-27. Fifth world ranked and defending champions Cuba will play in Pool A alongside second world ranked USA, Mexico (26) and Costa Rica (30). More Spanish