United States Captures NORCECA Title with Sweep of Dominican Republic

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, October 1, 2017 – The United States won the NORCECA Championship with a 25-17, 25-10, 25-12 victory over Dominican Republic on Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

The United States finished the tournament with a 5-0 record. Dominican Republic finished 3-2. The United States has now won the NORCECA Championship nine times.

The United States dominated the match from start to finish, leading Dominican Republic in spikes (32-19), blocks (12-1) and aces (11-1). The U.S. scored 20 points off Dominican errors while committing 18.

U.S. opposite Matt Anderson led all scorers with 12 points on seven spikes, two blocks and four aces.

Middle blocker David Smith scored 10 points on a match-high seven blocks, two attacks and one ace. Outside hitter Thomas Jaeschke, who substituted for Taylor Sander in the first set, scored 10 points on six spikes and four aces.

Opposite Pedro Garcia, who entered the match as a substitute in the second set, led Dominican Republic with seven points on seven kills.

U.S. Head Coach John Speraw: “We had an emotional match with Canada yesterday so I was pleased with our team’s ability to come back and be really quite focused and perform at a high level. I was worried about a letdown and I thought they went out and did a really admirable job of playing USA Volleyball.”

U.S. Opposite Matt Anderson: “We didn’t always play with our best energy. We talked before the match about coming in focused and knowing what we had to do and we got it done.”

Dominican Republic Head Coach Gladston Samuels: "We are very happy because we got our goal to qualify to Worlds and if we also get a silver medal, that's great. Colorado Springs is a very good place, very good gym to play ... fantastic. Food ... very, very, very good. Everything's very good. The weather was sometimes cold, but very good."

Dominican Republic Team Captain Wilfrido Hernandez: "We knew that the U.S. team was very strong and we played the best we could. Of course, we didn't play the best as we played during the competition, but we tried to do our best. We are very happy because, if I'm not mistaken, since 1978 the Dominican didn't qualify for the Worlds. Our goal coming into the competition was to qualify for the Worlds in the top three places. Today was more difficult than yesterday. The victory gave us a lot of emotions. Family and friends were sending me text messages, so it was a little more difficult today.”