United States to meet Cuba in semifinals

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, September 15, 2011 - United States advanced to a semifinal match against Cuba after an easy three sets victory (25-11, 25-8, 25-19) over Mexico on Thursday.

The Americans held an 8-0 advantage in aces and also were better in the blocking category 9-3. The winners made only 10 errors to 18 by the losing side.

Destinee Hooker scored 12 points as the best American offensive player next to Jordan Larson and Logan Tom with 10 points apiece. Larson collected four blocks and two aces, while Tom had three points from the service line. Mexico’s Claudia Rios finished with 10 points.

“It was a good, competitive match and I am happy with our performance,” said Jennifer Tamas, the U.S. captain. “We played a clean match tonight and we will be ready for tomorrow.”

“USA is an excellent team,” said Rios, Mexico’s captain. “The first two sets finished very quickly, but we were able to relax in the third set and score more points with confidence.”