NORCECA Olympic Qualification: USA won the ticket to Beijing

NORCECA Olympic Qualification: USA won the ticket to Beijing The US-boys (here Priddy and Millar) stopped the Puerto Rican superstar Hector Soto and qualified for the Olympic Games.

USA won the ticket to the Beijing Olympic Games with a clear victory over Puerto Rico in the final match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The American’s blocking (13-5) proved to be too much for the host Puerto Ricans. The score was 25-20, 25-19, 25-20.

Seldom used Sean Rooney was spectacular today for the winning side, attacking way over the blocking of the opponents and finishing with 16 points, while David Lee and Clayton Stanley each had 10 points. Ryan Millar had five blocks among his 8 points. Hector Soto had 16 points for Puerto Rico.

“I feel relieved and excited,” said Hugh McCutcheon, the coach of USA. “The team rose to the occasion and we executed in all aspects of the game. So many guys performed at their highest level and with a lot of energy.”

“We put tremendous pressure on the Puerto Rican team,” said Thomas Hoff, the USA Captain. “Our staff did a great job and we did all they wanted. Our team got better and better with the tournament and we reserved our best for the last match.”
“They played too well, we got overmatched since early in the game,” said Carlos Cardona, the coach of Puerto Rico. “We were left without solutions and the size of the team they used today somewhat surprised us.”

In another match, Cuba finished in the third position after prevailing against Canada by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23.
Rolando Jurquin and Robertlandy Simon led five Cuban players in double figures with 18 and 16 respectively. Henry Bell had 13 and Yoandry Leal and Raydel Corrales each had 11 tallies. Fred Winters, Chris Wolfenden and Dallas Soonias had 21, 19 and 16 points respectively for Canada.

Also, Mexico recovered from losing the first set to beat Dominican Republic in four sets to finish fifth. The score was 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20, and Trinidad & Tobago defeated Barbados in five sets (23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 15-11) to finish in the seventh position.

Final Ranking
1. United States
2. Puerto Rico
3. Cuba
4. Canada
5. Mexico
6. Dominican Republic
7. Trinidiad & Tobago
8. Barbados

The All-Star
Best Scorer: Ivan Contreras (MEX)
Best Spiker: Sean Rooney (USA)
Best Blocker: Ryan Millar (USA)
Best Server: Clayton Stanley (USA)
Best Setter: Angel Perez (PUR)
Best Digger: Gregory Berrios (PUR)
Best Receiver: Richard Lambourne (USA)
Best Libero: Richard Lambourne (USA)
Rising Star: Tomas Aguilera (MEX)
MVP: Hector Soto (PUR)


(FIVB)