USA claim second win, Dominicans lose at Montreux

MONTREUX, Switzerland, May 28, 2014 – Second world-ranked United States defeated No. 3 Japan in straight sets (25-17, 25-22, 25-20) to improve to a 2-0 win-loss record in Pool Bat the 29th Montreux Volley Masters on Wednesday.

TeTori Dixon and Kristin Hildebrand each scored 12 points to lead the American offense, followed by Christa Harmotto with 11, including five of the 11 blocks accumulated by the winners. Japan’s Arisa Inque had 11 in the loss.

In the first match of the day also in Pool B, the 9th world-ranked Germany won in straight sets (25-21, 25-20, 25-21) over No. 9 Dominican Republic.

The Dominicans showed problems with their serve-reception game and saw the Germans holding a 5-0 margin in aces. The losers, who had a slight advantage of 8-7 in blocks, made 21 errors to 15 by the winners.

Heike Beier had 14 points, including two blocks and three aces, for Germany while the captain Margareta Kozuch added 11 points in the victory.

Gina Mambru scored a match-high 16 points for the Dominican side followed by Yonkaira Peña and Brayelin Martinez with 12 and 10, respectively.

In Pool A, Brazil edged China in five sets (25-19, 14-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-13) to improve its record to 2-0 while China fell to 1-1.

Natalia Pereira and Ana Carolina da Silva carried the South Americans with 19 and 17 points, respectively. For China, Zhu Ting had 24 and Hui Ruoqi added 20.