United States win fifth crown in Pan Am Cup

CAÑETE, Lima, June 25, 2017 – The United States became the winningest country in the history of the Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup earning their fifth crown after defeating Dominican Republic for the gold medal of the sixteenth edition of the event on Sunday.

The USA won 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23) in front of a capacity crowd at Lolo Fernandez Coliseum in Cañete.

The winners scored 16 blocks –four apiece by Paige Tapp and Rhamat Al Hassan- against 8 of the defeated side. USA also held a 6-3 advantage in aces.

Madison Kingdon led USA with 21 points, followed by Elizabeth McMahon with 16 and Michele Bartsch-Hackley and Tapp each with 13 points. Dominican Brayelin Martinez led all the scorers in the match with 25 points while Bethania de la Cruz added 15 in the loss.

The USA team has won four of the last six editions of the Pan American Cup in 2012-13, 2015 and 2016. They also won in 2003. It was the tenth medal overall for the United States and the fifteenth for the Dominican Republic.

Micha Hancock, Captain of United States: “Our team has evolved a lot during the period of this competition. Our satisfaction is very big since the competition has served to give an opportunity to our young talents and we are so happy for winning the title for our country.”

Karch Kiraly, Coach of United States: “It feels great to be the champions of this important tournament. Dominican Republic is a great team with a lot of experience in NORCECA zone and we respect them very much.”

Bethania de la Cruz, Captain of Dominican Republic: “Congratulations to United States for the victory. Their blocking dominated us for moments and we also failed too much with our attacks so we were not able to put everything together like we did in the second set.”

Marcos Kwiek, Coach of Dominican Republic: “We missed the aggressiveness with our serves. The American setter has a very fast game and made it very difficult for us to defend. However, I think that in case we had been able to keep the aggressive serve we had in the second set, which allowed to control the ball, we would have obtained better results.”