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Jake Hanes scores 28pts to lead USA over Dominican Republic

DURANGO, Mexico, August 19, 2021. - Opposite Jake Hanes scored a tournament-high of 28 points to lead the U.S. over Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 26-24) at the Men’s NORCECA Continental Championship in Durango, Mexico.

Jake Hanes led with 28 points on 21 kills, one block and 6 aces, followed by outside hitter Brett Wildman and middle blocker Tyler Mitcham with 15 points each.

United States improved their win-loss record 2-0 in pool B overpowering Dominican Republic 57-32 in attacks, 12-7 in blocks, 9-3 in aces and scoring on 43 opponent errors while committing 21.

With 10 tallies each, outside hitter Henry López and opposite Henry Tapia led Dominican Republic’s scorers, Dawilin Mendez added 8 points.

On day three United States (2-0) plays against Cuba (2-0) to decide pool B top finisher and Dominican Republic (0-2) faces Guatemala (0-2).

Jake Hanes, top scorer of United States: “We really enjoyed ourselves out there. We are a new team, I think despite the short time we’ve together we trust each other a lot. Every time someone does something good we are really excited for each other. We had solid communication and we came much faster today and it was easy to get it going offensively and defensively”.

Andy Read, Coach of United States: “I want to congratulate both teams for playing that hard after everything they have dealt for the past 18 months with Covid. The Dominican team and the U.S. played hard and with great spirit. We keep getting better because we are still on our way up, and the next we´ll play even better and the following; that’s the goal of every team, to continue to progress during the tournament. I am very proud of my guys and their effort”.

Henry López, top scorer of Dominican Republic: “They crushed us with their services, especially number 9 (Jake Hanes), that forced us to play against a really high block and that’s why they had the advantage. Our attacks were good, it worked well”.

Dante Mañon, Coach of Dominican Republic: “Our reception was off when we needed it the most and our setting was unstable. Our blocking and attacking worked well but we are worried with our setting, we need to adjust it. We shouldn’t have lost the last set, they had given up and we wasted it”.