USA Stops Mexico 3-0

OMAHA, Nebraska, September 16, 2013 – United States, ranked second in the world, opened the Visit Omaha NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship strong with a 25-9, 25-12, 25-11 victory over Mexico Monday evening in Pool B at Ralston Arena.

Kelly Murphy charted a match-high 14 points to lead the United States. Local favorite Jordan Larson-Burbach tallied 11 points in the victory, while Christa Harmotto scored six blocks as part of 10 total points. Andrea Rangel led a young Mexico roster with six points.

The United States out-blocked Mexico 9-2 and notched a commanding 43-17 margin in kills. The reigning Olympic silver medalists also produced a 6-2 advantage in aces.

Mexico faces Cuba, which is idle Monday in the three-team group, on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT. United States is idle on Tuesday before facing Cuba on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT.

U.S. Captain Kristin Hildebrand: “I thought we did a good job. We served really well, passed well and ran a fast offense. I thought a lot of people came off the bench and made great contributions.”

U.S. Coach Karch Kiraly: “It’s nice to be home. We’ve barely been home two weeks from World Grand Prix. Tonight, all 12 players we brought here made nice contributions against a feisty and spunky Mexican team. I love how (Mexico) never gave up. They pursued a lot of balls on defense that other teams might not have been able to get over the net.”

Mexico Captain Dulce Carranza: “We knew the U.S. had a strong serving team. We made a lot of errors in serve receive we need to improve on that to be competitive.”

Mexico Coach Claudio Torres: “It’s very tough to defend against the U.S. serving. We couldn’t get our offense going because of serve receive errors. We have to be better at serve receive.”

Photos of the match can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g6hvasxqay8a5jb/8Mo1BVpaIF.   

All matches in the Visit Omaha NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship can be viewed online at http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Events/Live-Webcast.