USA swept Trinidad and Tobago in NORCECA first victory

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, October 8, 2019.- United States swept Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (25-8, 25-7, 25-7) in their first NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship victory that started this Tuesday at Roberto Clemente Coliseum of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

United States opened pool B controlling the entire match with a dominant performance in every skill of the game with 37-8 margin in attacks, 5-2 in blocks and 15-0 in aces. The U.S. committed 12 errors and Trinidad and Tobago 18.

 

Middle blockers Hannah Tapp and Tori Dixon led USA’s scorers with 11 points each; Tapp on 8 kills and 3 aces, while Tori contributed with 6 attacks, 2 blocks and 3 aces. Opposite Karsta Lowe added 10 points.

 

United States plays Mexico on day two of competition; Trinidad and Tobago faces Dominican Republic.

 

Hannah Tapp, middle blocker United States: “Our first game back after World Cup was a lot of fun playing together; we enjoyed ourselves because we took a little time off. Always respecting our opponent, we definitely wanted to work on some things that we´ve been struggling with, like serves, mixing up depth and different zones to get better and play our best during the competition. We want to make sure we put ourselves in the position to be our best, relaxed but not tense to get the job done and execute playing at a high level”.

 

Kiune Fletcher, captain of Trinidad and Tobago: “We scored a few points, we tried our best, and we knew weren’t going to beat them. I think overall, considering that we are a very young team and our first international tournament together, we did well; definitely we were nervous”.

 

Karch Kiraly, Head Coach of United States: “The players were trying to be good on our side of the net and not worry about what the other team is doing and challenging ourselves. Trinidad is a young team, they have a lot to learn and we wish them great luck.

 

Sean Morrison, Head Coach of Trinidad and Tobago: “As I said before, for us it’s development. The scores don’t show that we can play, the girls were a little disarray and nervous. The U.S. is very strong team and we are very young, we’re thinking about our future. For me it was a good start for them to see where they stand and work with that”.