USA picked up their seventh win of the FIVB World Cup when they defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-14) at Momotaro Arena in Okayama on Sunday.
USA captain Lindsey Berg collected the Most Impressive Player award. Destinee Hooker was the top scorer for USA with 26 points followed by Foluke Akinradewo with 12. The top scorer for the Dominican Republic was Bethania De La Cruz with 14, while Milagros Cabral had 13.
The Americans held the edge in blocks 8-6 and in service aces 3-2. They made only 8 errors to 17 by the defeated side.
De La Cruz, coming off a 42-point performance in the Dominicans’ surprise win against Germany on Saturday, started off the match in blistering fashion, sending down two rocket serves that the Americans couldn’t handle. A spike by Cabral made the score 3-0 before Hooker got the Americans on the scoreboard by blocking Dahiana Burgos. Behind the service of Logan Tom, the Americans went on a five-point run with a pair of spikes each for Hooker and Akinradewo, prompting Dominican coach Marcos Kwiek to call a timeout. Cabral ended that run with a booming hit to put her team two points back. But after the U.S. stretched their lead again, Kwiek brought on 15-year-old Elizabeth Martinez and the youngster responded with a crisp spike. But the Americans maintained their lead, with Hooker landing more huge kills and De La Cruz being largely frozen out. The Dominicans’ best attacker was captain Cabral who pulverized the ball for seven points during the set, but who brought up setpoint with a netted hit. USA took the set with a net error by the Dominicans.
The Dominicans responded by coming out for the second set in confident mood and De La Cruz put them on the scoreboard first with a couple of kills. Cabral made a fantastic block on Hooker and came up with another trademark rocket, and successive strikes by Lisvel Eve and De La Cruz put their team four points up at the first technical timeout. Akinradewo brought USA back with two huge blocks on De La Cruz, which she followed up with a neat spike. But Cabral responded for the Dominican Republic and they held onto their lead to the second TTO when the score was 16-14. Three points later, Kwiek was calling his players off court after hits by Tom, Akinradewo and Hooker put the U.S. in front. Three points later, he called another timeout as his team was now four points behind. The Americans were blocking and defending well and starting to neutralize the Dominicans’ big weapons. Hooker came up with two more blocks, and a great block by Heather Bown on Cabral brought up setpoint at 24-18. After a point by Cabral, Burgos sent a service long and the Americans were 2-0 up.
The Dominicans struggled at the start of the third set as errors crept into their game. Four straight mistakes took the U.S. from 4-2 to 8-2, and at 10-2 Kwiek used up his second timeout. A Dominican net error gave the Americans an eight-point lead at the second TTO. Despite a fierce rocket from De La Cruz, the Americans stretched their lead to 10 points at 20-10 on a hit by Hooker. The USA earned matchpoint when the Dominicans failed to deal with two Hooker serves and clinched the win when De La Cruz failed to connect with a shot.
