SEOUL, Korea, July 2, 2005.- United States came from behind to win the last three sets of the match and defeated the Dominican Republic in a tie-breaker (23-25, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16, 15-6) at the Women’s Volleyball World Grand Prix. It was the second victory against three losses for USA in the event while the Dominicans remain winless in five outings. Nancy Metcalf led USA with 19 points, Tayyeba Haneef and Kristin Richards added 15 and 11 respectively and Elisha Thomas and Elizabeth Bachman each had 9 points.

Priscilla Rivera was the best Dominican with 16 and Cindy Rondón and Annerys Vargas had 12 and 11 respectively. Dahiana Burgos and Cosiris Rodriguez had 7 apiece. “For the first two sets we did not have rhythm and Dominican Republic played very well,” said Lang Ping, the USA coach. “We committed too many unforced errors and had problems with our passing.” “Then from the third set on we got better with the attack of Haneef and everything changed for us,” she added.

Meanwhile, Francisco Cruz, the Dominican coach, said: “This is not an excuse but we played very well for the first two sets and suddenly everything was different.”

“One of the main weaknesses of our team is the lack of concentration and that really affected us the rest of the match,” said Cruz. “The players looked confused and trying to do too much interfering in some actions.”

The first set was a fiery battle between the two sides. With the score tied at 10-all, Vargas gave the Dominicans a three-point lead with a spike followed by two aces, but the Americans came back to tie at 15-all with the offence of  Thomas and Metcalf. Then with the teams equalled at 23, Rodriguez hammered consecutive kills to close it.

Two aces by Rivera and a kill of Vargas gave the Dominicans a 12-9 lead which they never relinquished with a balanced attack shared mainly by Rodriguez and Vargas for the rest of the second set.

The Americans came back to easily dominate the third set with Richards and Metcalf leading the attack.

The big Haneef sent the match to a tie-breaker with her powerful spikes for USA in the fourth set when she had 8 points.

Starting lineups: USA (Collymore, Berg, Richards, Metcalf, Thomas and Joines). Dominican Republic (Vargas, Burgos, González, Rondon, Rivera and Rodriguez)