USA crowned world champions for first time

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – USA women’s team achieved a remarkable feat at the FIVB World Championship Italy 2014 when they claimed the gold medal for the first time in the history of the competition.

The American squad coached by Karch Kiraly outplayed China 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 16-25, 26-24) to collect their first ever title.

The third place went to Brazil which edged Italy 3-2 (25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7).

American Kimberly Hill, who scored 20 points in the decisive match against China, was selected as the Most Valuable Player in addition to the honors as Best Spiker in the All-Star Team.

Kiraly commented: “We came here to make history and we made it. It was a tough battle. I would like to congratulate Lang Ping and her team. They played a marvelous tournament. After we got a 2-0 lead we knew China would never give up. It was a battle to the end and they have some great young players, as do we. I hope that we will be playing against each other in the future. It is just good for the sport to have teams with such history performing at a high level.”

Another remarkable performance was achieved by the Dominican Republic as “The Queens of the Caribbean” came within just one set of a semifinal berth when they led China 2-0 in their last match of the third round.

The Dominicans finished in the fifth position, a tremendous jump from their previous best of 11th in 1998.

Canada and Puerto Rico finished in the 17th position while Mexico and Cuba, the other NORCECA teams in the competition, closed in 21st place.