Dominican Republic claim first victory in London

London, Great Britain, August 3, 2012 – The Dominican Republic claimed their first win of the Olympic tournament by edging the hosts of Great Britain in straight sets (25-9, 25-18, and 25-19) in what was a sort of last call to remain in contention for a spot in the quarterfinals coming up next week at Earls Court.

Bethania De La Cruz paced the side from the Caribbean with 12 points with Prisilla Rivera also finishing in double figures with 10. GB captain Lynne Beattie registered a match-high of 11 points. The Dominican Republic killed a total of 13 blocks vs. only 3 for Team GB in what was the first match in history opposing these teams.

With the Dominican Republic having to play Algeria in the last round of the prelims on Sunday and GB set to take on Japan, the chances of the hosts to make it to the quarterfinals look – unfortunately for the local, very passionate fans – quite minimized.

USA 3, Serbia 0

USA cruised to a straight-set victory (25-17, 25-20, 25-16) over Serbia in 1 hour and 12 minutes to continue undefeated in Pool B with 12 points and a win-loss record of 4-0. The Serbians are still looking for their first victory in the tournament.

The Americans, who only committed 8 unforced errors for the whole match, outblocked Serbia 15-3 and served 3 aces to 1 from the defeated side.

Destinee Hooker once again topped USA in the score charts with 19 points, including 6 blocks, while Foluke Akinradewo had five blocks among her 11 points and veteran Logan Tom contributed 12 points.

Serbia’s Brankica Mihajlovic finished with 13 points as the best for the losers while Jovana Brankocevic and Milena Rasic each finished with 8.