USA is qualified for the Beijing Games

 

NAGOYA, Japan, November 15, 2007.- Italy and USA became the first two teams to qualify in the FIVB Women’s World Cup 2007 for the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

Italy booked a place in the Beijing Games by recording their 10th straight win in the World Cup, beating Cuba 3-0 (27-25, 25-19, 25-16) to guarantee a top-three finish with one match to go. Cuba, the reigning NORCECA champions who have won the World Cup four times, dropped to 7-3.

 

Taismary Aguero and Antonella del Core each had 12 points for Italy and Nancy Carrillo and Yumilka Ruiz scored 12 and 10 respectively for Cuba.

The United States booked a place in the Olympics with a crushing defeat of Japan by score of 25-17, 25-14, 25-20 victory. This improved their record to 9-1, moving them ahead of Brazil (8-2) into second place behind Italy (10-0) and assured of a podium finish. Asian champions Japan dropped to 6-4.

 

Logan Tom and Tayyiba Haneef-Park each scored 13 points and Danielle Scott-Arruda and Kimberly Glass contributed 11 apiece and Heather Bown added 10.

 

The Dominican Republic picked up their second win of the World Cup with a steady 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 victory over Kenya. Bethania De La Cruz led the Dominicans with 20 points and was well supported by teammates Sidarka Nunez (15 points) and Cosiri Rodriguez (13).

 

Brazil produced an outstanding performance to demolish Serbia 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-21). With the win, Brazil improved their record to 8-2. The Serbs dropped to 7-3.

 

In other matches, Thailand put on a great display of Volleyball to down Peru 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 and pick up their second win of the World Cup. Poland worked hard for a 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19 victory over South Korea.