TRUJILLO, Peru (July 13, 2019) – The U.S. Women’s National Team will play for its third consecutive and sixth overall Pan American Cup title after sweeping past Colombia 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-15) Saturday in a semifinal match held at Coliseo Gran Chimú.
“What an impressive match by USA,” said head coach Rob Browning. “Colombia is a good and experienced team, and we made them look young and inexperienced. Our team was all over them and executed very well. We started off the match with zero aces and six service errors in the first set and still won comfortably. It shows how good this team is and how they can overcome their errors and still play great.”
The U.S. outshone Colombia in every stat category. They landed 24 more kills (46-22), blocked six more shots (10-4) and served up six more aces (8-2). Additionally, Team USA tallied 37 digs and 36 receptions compared to 33 and 29, respectively, for Colombia.
Three Americans scored 13 points Saturday. Outside hitter Madi Kingdon Rishel (Phoenix, Arizona) earned hers with 13 kills on 26 attempts, while middle Hannah Tapp collected eight kills, four blocks and a service ace. Outside hitter Kadie Rolfzen, meanwhile, paired 10 kills with two aces and a block for her 13 points.
Brionne Butler (Kendleton, Texas), who got the start at middle, chipped in five kills, four blocks and an ace. Karsta Lowe (Rancho Santa Fe, California) added nine kills in the victory. Kathryn Plummer (Aliso Viejo, California) rounded out the scoring with one kill coming off the bench in the third set.
Libero Justine Wong-Orantes led the squad with 12 digs.. Micha Hancock set Team USA to a 49.5 kill percent and .376 hitting efficiency (46-11-93) with 24 running sets on 68 total sets.
“Micha Hancock is doing a fabulous job running our offense,” Browning said. “Our outside hitters have such a great combination, Madi and Kadie, of power and finesse and skill, it’s really hard to defend them. Brionne Butler came in tonight and played wonderfully. She looked smooth and relaxed and was effective as a blocker and an attacker and even as a server. We had a good contribution off the bench from Madison Lilley and Kathryn Plummer. Just a really impressive match for us.”
The U.S. will once again face the Dominican Republic in the gold medal match. The two countries have battled for the title in five of the past six years with the Americans winning four of those matches. First serve for the 2019 finale is scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern, once again in Trujillo.
“We’re looking forward to a great match versus Dominican Republic,” said Browning. “They are an excellent team and definitely the most experienced team in this tournament. This is the team they played with in VNL, they’re a worthy opponent. We will have our hands full with them, but we feel good about what we’re doing and how we are improving as this tournament goes along. We just had our best match of this tournament and look forward to repeating that again tomorrow.”