The USA women took home silver Sunday after losing to the Dominican Republic in the title match of the NORCECA Senior Women’s Volleyball Continental Championship in Quebec, Canada.
The Dominicans won the tournament for the third time in a row and fourth overall (2009, 2019, 2021, 2023).
The Dominican Republic celebrates NORCECA gold NORCECA photo
“Congratulations to Dominican. They made some nice adjustments and played a great match. It was an exceptional win for them,” USA coach Karch Kiraly told NORCECA.
“Of course, we are really disappointed to be on the losing end of that. After the first set, they tried some different combinations and threw more at us than we could handle.”
The Dominican Republic won 12-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13, avenging an earlier loss to the USA in the tournament.
The Americans opened with a sweep of Costa Rica (25-3, 25-13, 25-5) before doing the same to Cuba (25-8, 25-17, 25-14) and the Dominican Republic (25-22, 25-22, 25-16). They swept Cuba again in the semifinals (25-12, 25-11, 25-16).
The USA women now head to Poland later this week for the FIVB “Road to Paris” Olympic qualifying tournament.
From the NORCECA news release:
After beating Canada in the semis yesterday, the “Reinas Del Caribe” excited the crowd coming back after a poor showing in the first set against the reigning Olympic gold medalists, only to win the second. It was then back and forth, with USA leading in attack 60-53, Dominican led in blocking (9-8). USA had 7 aces compared with 3 for the winning side. USA lost more points to errors 31-28.
Jordan Thompson led all scoring with 21 points — 17 from attack, 3 blocks, and a serve. Brayelin Martinez contributed 20 points — 18 from attack, and 2 blocks.
Both teams now enter the Olympic Qualification tournaments later this month.
Canada won bronze over Cuba earlier in the day.
