2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: Puerto Rico

USA improve to 3-0

Caguas, Puerto Rico, August 16, 2005 – World number five USA improved to 3-0 in pool play at the FIVB Women’s World Championship second round tournament (NORCECA D) in Caguas following a 3-0 win over Canada on Tuesday.

Nancy Metcalf scored a match-high 17 points on 16 kills and one block to lead three players into double-figures as the United States registered a 25-22, 25-18, 25-23 victory in the five-team tournament that will reward the top three finishers with trips to the 2006 World Championships as members of the NORCECA zone.

Jennifer Joines added 12 points and Tayyiba Haneef tallied 10 points as the Americans improved to 14-13 overall this season. Joines had seven kills, four blocks and one service ace while Haneef posted seven kills and three blocks.

Elisabeth Bachman recorded five blocks in the win and leads all blockers in the tournament with a total of nine.

In Tuesday’s other match, Mexico beat Barbados 3-0 (25-21, 25-12, 25-17) for their first win of the tournament.

The Americans will conclude pool play with a match against Puerto Rico (3-0) on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

The winner earns the top seed in the pool and will play the No. 4 team in Thursday’s semifinals. The loser will rank No. 2 in the pool and will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals.

The top four teams at the conclusion of pool play advance to the tournament semifinals on Aug. 18.

Canada will take on Barbados in the other match on Wednesday to determine which teams claim the third and fourth positions. Only Mexico (1-3) and Canada (1-2) are the only teams left in contention due to Barbados’ (0-3) inferior set ratio.

Five other teams – Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Jamaica – will vie for three additional NORCECA slots for the final round at the “NORCECA E” World Championship second round tournament in Santo Domingo from Aug. 24-28.

In all, 24 teams will compete at the 2006 World Championships from Nov. 16-Dec. 3 – seven from Europe, six from NORCECA, four from Asia, three from Africa, two from South America, the host team (Japan) and the 2002 champion (Italy).