Puerto Rico's Neira Ortiz gets over the Jamaican block of Breanna Atkinson and Tasha-Gaye Richards in Santo Domingo at the NORCECA qualifiers for the 2018 FIVB World Championship.
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 14, 2017 - All the favourites got off to straight-set wins on the opening day of the North & Cenetral America and Caribbean (NORCECA) qualifiers for the 2018 FIVB Women's World Championship, 29 September - 20 October in Japan.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo and Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago in Port of Spain now top each of the two four-team, round-robin pools that give two tickets each for Japan 2018.
In Santo Domingo Puerto Rico served 21 aces to crush the Jamaican reception in their 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-17) win in 59 minutes, led in the scoring by Stephanie Enright with 13 points (7 aces) and Daly Santana with 10 (6 aces).
Gina Mambru of the Dominican Republic attacks against the block of Guatemala in Santo Domingo.Hosts Dominican Republic followed up with 22 aces in their own 3-0 (25-7, 25-7, 25-11) sweep of Guatemala. Yonkaira Pena played a set and a half - enough to emerge top scorer of the game on 12 points (7 aces).
Day 2 schedule in Santo Domingo, 14 October:17:00 (21:00 GMT) - Guatemala v Puerto Rico
19:00 (23:00 GMT) - Jamaica v Dominican Republic
Over in Port of Spain, Mexico shut out Costa Rica 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-21) in a very decisive win. Samantha Bricio with 14 points and Dulce Carranza with 12 led Mexico.
Hosts Trinidad & Tobago also enjoyed a an easy evening, thundering past Dominica 3-0 (25-16, 25-7, 25-9) on the back of 18 aces and led by Channon Thompson's 20 points (9 aces).
Day 2 schedule in Port of Spain, 14 October:17:00 (21:00 GMT) - Dominica v Mexico
19:00 (23:00 GMT) - Costa Rica v Trinidad & Tobago
Canada and Cuba have already punched their tickets for Japan 2018 when they finished 1-2 in Pool C of the NORCECA qualifiers last month in Vancouver.
Together with the South America qualifier in Arequipa this weekend sees the full roster completed for the 2018 FIVB Women's World Championship.
Already qualified are Japan as hosts and USA as defending champions. Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Azerbaijan, Germany, The Netherlands and Bulgaria all qualified from Europe, Brazil advanced from South America, while China, Kazakhstan, Korea and Thailand made it through the Asian qualifiers, in addition to Cuba and Canada from NORCECA. Meanwhile, Kenya and Cameroon secured the African tickets on Friday evening in Yaounde.
For more information on the two NORCECA tournaments, including full schedules, live scores, photos and statistics, check out the dedicated sections on the Confederation's website:
- Santo Domingo tournament
- Port of Spain tournamentQuick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship 2018FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship 2018FIVB.com - VolleyballFIVB.com
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