USA in contention for medals at U20 World Championship

CORDOBA AND BOCA DEL RIO, Mexico, July 17, 2017 – United States advanced to the top-eight phase at the U20 Women’s Volleyball World Championship while defending champions Dominican Republic was fell out of contention despite posting a positive win-loss record.

United States came from behind to edge Serbia 3-2 (22-25, 10-25, 26-24, 25-23, 17-15) in spite of the 32-point effort by Serbian Katarina Lazovic. Leah Edmond and Ronika Stone each had 15 points for the winners.

The Americans will join Bulgaria, Poland and Turkey as second placed teams in the preliminary pool play. Pool winners were Russia, Brazil, China and Japan.

China defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-17) with Han Yu scoring 22 points, including four aces, finishing Pool B with 2-1 record and 7 points. Poland and Dominican Republic also had 2-1 marks but the Europeans collected 6 points from their wins to 5 by the Caribbeans.

Poland defeated Peru 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 14-25, 25-12) to stay in contention for the medals. Martyna Lukasik had 22 points in the victory.

Bulgaria outdueled Mexico 3-2 (27-25, 24-26, 25-12, 19-25, 15-9) with Monika Krasteva leading the victory with 22 points. Kathya Garcia had 13 for the defeated side. Bulgaria finished second in Pool A with 2-1 and 5 points.

Brazil overcame Cuba 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-9, 25-20, 15-13) with Glayce Tobias as the top scorer for the winners with 19 points the same as Ailama Cese for the losers.