.svg)
USA Opens NORCECA With 19 Aces
The Americans won 25-6, 25-11, 25-4 over Trinidad and Tobago. The LA28 quota this tournament leads to is the one thing in Santo Domingo they are not allowed to chase.
Trinidad and Tobago scored 21 points across three sets on Friday night.
The United States served 19 aces.
That was the opening match of the NORCECA Women's Continental Championship in Santo Domingo, a 25-6, 25-11, 25-4 American sweep at the Palacio de Voleibol Prof. Ricardo Gioriber Arias.
Asjia O'Neal scored 18 points, Stephanie Samedy 14, Dana Rettke nine. Thia Wilson led Trinidad and Tobago with four.
The Serve Did Almost All of It
The ace count is the whole match. Erik Sullivan's team put up 19 against two, and 41 attack points against seven, so the American serve on its own outscored the entire Trinidadian offense by better than two to one.
Nineteen aces is also more than Trinidad and Tobago managed in the second and third sets combined.
The rest of Friday's board had actual volleyball in it. Canada beat Mexico 25-21, 25-23, 25-22, with 23 points from Karla Castro on the losing side and 18 from Kiera Van Ryk on the winning one.
The Dominican Republic beat Costa Rica 25-11, 25-11, 25-10. Cuba and Puerto Rico went the distance, Cuba taking it 25-11, 24-26, 25-15, 27-25, 15-9 on the back of 18 block points to four.
The Host-Country Rule Cuts Both Ways
The Americans are playing for less than everyone else in that building, and the reason is a rule rather than a result.
The championship runs through Aug. 27. The four best teams other than the United States then move into a separate Continental Olympic Qualifier on Aug. 28 and 29, and that event awards one berth at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The United States is excluded from it, because it already has one as host. The top three at the championship do take places at the 2027 FIVB Women's World Cup.
So the Americans are chasing a World Cup slot, a seeding line and a month of tape, while every opponent they meet is chasing something considerably heavier.
The United States plays Mexico at 5 p.m. Central on Saturday and Canada at the same hour Sunday. Both are 1-0, so Pool A probably comes down to that one.
Anyone searching for results should know the Central American and Caribbean Games were also held in Santo Domingo this year, and Puerto Rico beat Cuba there on Aug. 7. Different tournament, same city, three weeks apart.
