USA scores a win over Dominican Republic

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 2, 2019 - USA took a decisive win over a young Dominican squad 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-14) today at the 2019 NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship in Winnipeg, Canada.

Torey Defalco led the charge for the United States with 15 points (12 on attack and three service points) and was match top scorer.

Henry Omar Tapia, the Dominican team captain, was top scorer for the losing side with eight points on attack and one block.

The USA plays Guatemala next. The Dominican Republic faces familiar opponent Cuba.

USA, head coach, John Hawks: “I liked how we got everybody in – everyone contributed, everybody did some nice things and we passed well.  I thought our setting was good, we dug some balls, served effectively… overall it was a good match for us.”

Micah Ma’a, Captain of the US team: “We didn’t have much time to train with this particular team, so we just wanted to come out and play hard and play to our strengths.  We are a good serving team, and we served well tonight. We got to get a lot of guys in, which we are pretty happy about.  We’re going to try to get better with each match and hopefully by the end play better volleyball.”

Dominican Republic, head coach, Jose Alexander Gutierrez: “Today was very bad for us. We have a team with young players, and there are a lot of ups and downs. We hope that tomorrow we will play better against Cuba and improve little by little with each match. We know Cuba well – they have played many friendly matches with us. We have similar styles, but as I said we have a young team and we need to be more consistent, which is the most difficult part of volleyball.”