MEXICALI, Baja California, June 6, 2008.- USA joined Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico as teams of NORCECA claiming tickets to the next year’s World Grand Prix. The Americans made their way toward the main women’s annual event by defeating Peru in straight sets by score of 25-19, 25-15, 25-16 at the Pan American Cup.

Kristin Richards led USA with 13 points, including three blocks, Alexis Crimes added 12, and Cynthia Barboza and Tracy Stalls each contributed 10 tallies.

Patricia Soto was the best Peruvian scorer with 12 points and Mirtha Uribe added 9.

“We accomplished our goal of qualifying to the World Grand Prix,” said American Stacy Sykora. “We were able to refocus after the loss against Puerto Rico last night and come back to perform against a strong team like Peru.”

“We came to this tournament with two main goals: one, to improve with each game which we did and second, to qualify to the Grand Prix which we did it today,” said Tom Hogan, the American coach. “I think this young team has grown to another level as a result of playing in this competition.”

“We have to leave the tournament on a positive note and it is that we have learned a lot during the competition playing against some very good teams,” said Soto after the game.