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United States finishes 5th defeating Dominican Republic

DURANGO, Mexico, August 23, 2021. - United States finished fifth place in the Men’s NORCECA Continental Championship defeating Dominican Republic 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21) in Durango, Mexico.

 

United States had a rocky start having difficulties controlling the Dominican Republic’s strong serves. With a 15-7 margin in blocks and 52-38 in attacks, the U.S came out winners. Dominican Republic led 7-4 in serves and committed fewer errors (25-38).

 

The U.S. finishes the event with a 4-2 win-loss record and Dominican Republic with 2-4.

 

Jake Hanes from United States led all scorers with 21 points, 15 in kills, 4 in blocks and 2 aces; also contributing in the winning effort were outside hitter Spencer Olivier with 17 points on 12 kills and 2 blocks, outside hitter Brett Wildman scored 14 points and middle blocker Merrick McHenry added 11 points.

 

On the Dominican side, outside hitter Henry López scored 17 points on 13 attacks, one block and 3 aces, accompanied by opposite hitter Henry Tapia with 13 points on 8 attacks, one block and 4 aces.

 

Joshua Tuaniga, Captain of United States: “We wanted to play hard because it was our last opportunity here. It was a rocky start, but the guys played good volleyball for a longer period of time; we tried to play better and more consistently today. Kudos to the guys, we learned a lot and having this experience was helpful for the USA”.

 

Andy Read, Coach of United States: “Dominican Republic is a very strong team, with very good athletes that play high-level volleyball and they forced us to play a level within. This was a very high-level tournament, with several good teams, we had six grueling matches and the guys played hard every single one of them, which international volleyball requires you to do. We are ready to face another challenging tournament in ten day, the Pan American Cup in the Dominican Republic with a totally different team”.