USA to meet Dominican Republic for the gold medal

CAÑETE, Peru, June 24, 2017 – The United States will meet defending champions Dominican Republic for the gold medal of the XVI Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup by Movistar following their 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 27-25) victory at Lolo Fernandez Coliseum of Cañete on Saturday.

Both teams have been crowned four times in the history of the competition and the United States will be playing their seventh final.

The USA team established their serve and blocking game and didn’t give any chance to the home side until the third set when the Peruvian fans had something to cheer for. The winners scored 15 blocks.

Elizabeth McMahon led USA with 16 points, including 10 in the first set. Rhamat Alhassan contributed 12 points, including five blocks, in the victory and Madison Kindon had three blocks among her total of 10 points. Angela Leyva finished with 16 points for Peru.

Micha Hancock, Captain of United States: “Today’s match has been very important because Peru demanded the best from us for moments and we could control the match.”

Mirtha Uribe, Captain of Peru: “We knew the match was going to be difficult for the speed USA is showing but we were able to come back in the third set and even though we didn’t win we could show our game and came out with the heads up. We have to work harder and we are committed to keep improving and giving our best.”

Karch Kiraly, Coach of United States: “From  watching the game Peru showed against Argentina we knew it was not going to be an easy rival and today’s game was going to be a tough one. We had a marvelous level of volleyball in our match today.”

Luizomar de Moura, Coach of Peru: “For us is very important to have matches against such strong teams like United States. By facing teams of that level of quality our game will be improving. I like what we did in the last sets and we are committed to continue playing that way.”