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Lincoln, Nebraska, USA (Jan. 6, 2016) –
Four women’s national volleyball teams from NORCECA will be
battling it out this weekend in Lincoln, Neb., to earn the
zone’s qualification into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
The U.S., ranked No. 1 in the world and reigning world
champions, hosts No. 7 Dominican Republic, No. 15 Puerto Rico
and No. 16 Canada in Lincoln, Neb., where fans are expected to
pack the Pinnacle Bank Arena for matches Jan. 7-9. The
tournament field was determined by the top four teams from the
eight-team 2015 NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship held in
Mexico. Team USA captured the title with a four-set win over
Dominican Republic, while Puerto Rico won the bronze medal over
Canada.
“It’s truly an honor and a privilege - and a phenomenal
opportunity - to play on an American court, in front of
thousands of USA fans, with these four teams battling for a
ticket to the Rio Olympics,” USA Head Coach Karch Kiraly said.
With the Olympic qualifying tournament taking place in the
middle of the international club season and right after the
holiday season, all four teams have needed to assemble and focus
quickly to get ready for this all-important tournament.
For Dominican Republic, they traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, for a
training block with Colombia to keep the players’ minds focused
on the Olympic bid.
“We spent a training period last week in Tijuana, Baja
California, and the whole team used this opportunity to prepare
very well,” Dominican Republic Head Coach Marcos Kwiek said. “We
are very happy to be here to try to classify for the Olympics.”
“We had a short training block, but I assume all the other teams
had the same issue with players competing overseas,” Canada Head
Coach Arnd Ludwig said. “We started on Dec. 27 and had a really
good preparation in the one week that we worked. It was really
focused and I think we are ready for this tournament.”
Although USA is the strong favorite based on the world ranking,
all four coaches feel their teams will put out maximum effort to
either win the tournament or remain in contention for the World
Olympic Qualification Tournaments this May. The second- and
third-place teams remain alive for the 12-team Olympic Games
field in August.
“At this NORCECA event, it is important that we finish second or
third to keep our dreams for Rio open for as long as possible,”
Ludwig said. “The clear favorite here is the United States, but
I think we saw at the NORCECA Championship that we are really
close to the other teams and have a chance against them. This is
one of the biggest problems for us, that we need to believe in
ourselves more than we did at the NORCECA Championship.”
The USA had a strong training block in California starting on
Dec. 26 and has brought a team it feels can compete to win the
coveted Olympic Games bid here in Lincoln.
“We’ve had a strong training block so far, with all 21 players
here working very hard to make USA the strongest it can be going
into the NORCECA Olympic Qualifier,” Kiraly said. “We chose the
travel roster in the hope of maximizing our chances to
accomplish our goal of qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympic
Games, and we’re excited to begin the battle, Thursday against
Canada.”
Like the other three teams, Puerto had just a week of
preparation time as a full team to get ready for the Olympic
Qualification Tournament, but that is not stopping the squad
from putting out maximum effort to get the ticket to Rio.
“It is important for us to play hard in this tournament,” Puerto
Rico Head Coach Juan Carlos Nunez said. “We only had a short
week of training to get ready as our best player played in
Europe. The team is focused to try to win this tournament, or
stay in second or third place to play in May at World Olympic
Qualifier.”
Dominican Republic remains slightly short-handed in personnel.
Bethania De La Cruz, who is one of the best players in the
world, is unavailable for the tournament.
“One of our best players, Bethania De La Cruz, is not here
because she is in a special situation for surgery,” Kwiek said.
“We are okay, but I do not know if we have the same level that
we had the recent World Cup.”
For fans unable to attend the Qualifier matches, live video
streaming is available for free through the USA Volleyball web
site at
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Events/International/2016-NORCECA-Olympic-Qualifier.
All but the final match, USA versus Dominican Republic, will be
streamed online.
USA hosts Dominican Republic on Jan. 9 at 8 p.m. CT and will be
aired lived on NBC Sports.
Jan. 7
Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico, 5 p.m. CT
USA vs. Canada, 7 p.m. CT
Jan. 8
Canada vs. Dominican Republic, 5 p.m. CT
USA vs. Puerto Rico, 7 p.m. CT
Jan. 9
Canada vs. Puerto Rico, 5 p.m. CT
USA vs. Dominican Republic, 8 p.m. CT |
