USA women sweep Dominican Republic, improve to 7-1 at World Cup

by Paul Soriano USA Volleyball Manager, Public Relations & Publications

Danielle Scott scored a match-high 13 points to lead the USA women's national volleyball team to a sweep of the Dominican Republic to finish the third round of the World Cup at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center in Sapporo, Japan, on Monday afternoon (Sunday night in the United States).

Scott (Baton Rouge, La.) had a match-high seven blocks, five kills and one service ace in the 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 victory for Team USA, which improved to 7-1 at the first Olympic qualifier of the quadrennial with three matches yet to play.

The top three teams at the 12-team, two-week, round-robin tournament earn automatic bids to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Logan Tom scored 11 points, Tayyiba Haneef added 10 points and Keba Phipps and Heather Bown chipped in with eight points apiece as the United States won its second-straight World Cup match after suffering its only loss of the tournament Nov. 8 to Poland in five sets.

Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) had seven kills, a match-high three aces and one block, while Haneef (Laguna Hills, Calif.) ripped a match-high nine kills along with one block.

Phipps (Las Vegas, Nev.) had six kills and two blocks and Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.) posted three kills, three blocks and two aces as Team USA improved to 28-13 overall this season.

For the seventh time in eight matches, the USA outblocked its opponents, this time by a 14-8 margin.

Four players scored seven points as the Dominican Republic dropped to 1-7 at the World Cup.

In other early action on Monday, Cuba edged Korea in five sets to improve to 5-3. The remaining Monday matches include Italy against Turkey, Brazil vs. Argentina, Japan against Poland and China taking on Egypt.

With the third round now complete, the USA women will have a short break (Nov. 11-12) from competition as the tournament field travels to Osaka for the final round.

In the fourth round (Nov. 13-15), Team USA squares off against China, Brazil and four-time defending World Cup champion Cuba (1989, 1991, 1995 and 1999).

For more information, go to the USA Volleyball web site.