August 7, Li Miao, Chinese Taipei.

The U.S. Women won a hard fought match against the Domincan Republic today, taking the fiirst two sets 25-18 and 25-19, dropping the next two, 25-23 and 25-21, and outlasting the Dominicans in the fifth 23-21. This was a match where the young US Women’s team could have folded, but hung tough to even their 2009 World Grand Prix record at 2-2.

In a post-match press conference, USA Head Coach Mr. Hugh McCutcheon said “Although I am happy to win, but we played inconsistently. A team like Dominican Republic can easily disturb us as we have many young players. Our main goal in WGP is to train these young players and help them get more experiences. And we look forward to playing better tomorrow.”

Alexis Crimes, Kristin Richards, Jordan Larson, Nancy Metcalf, Tracy Stalls, Courtney Thompson, and Foluke Akinradewo started all five sets for the US, with Stacy Sykora at libero. Nicole Fawcett (the team’s leading scorer in Week 1) and Angela McGinnis saw action in all five games, Nicole Davis in four, Cynthia Barboza in one. Metcalf led all scorers in the match with 20 points, Akinradewo added 17, Crimes and Richards had 13 apiece, Larson 12 and Nicole Fawcett 4.

Final stats for the match are available from the FIVB (pdf) and the FIVB’s Live Score

Stacy Sykora, Nancy Metcalf , and Tracy Stalls replaced Angie Pressey, Heather Hughes, and Christa Harmotto on the Week 2 Team Roster:

1 – Nicole Fawcett (OPP/OH, 6-4, Zanesfield, Ohio, Penn State)
4 C – Angela McGinnis (S, 5-11, Fraser, Mich., Florida)
5 – Stacy Sykora (L, 5-10, Burleson, Texas, Texas A&M)
6 – Nicole Davis (L, 5-6, Stockton, Calif., Southern California)
8 – Cynthia Barboza (OH, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Stanford)
9 – Alexis Crimes (MB, 6-3, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Long Beach State)
10 – Kristin Richards (OH, 6-1, Orem, Utah, Stanford)
11 – Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Nebraska)
12 – Nancy Metcalf (OPP, 6-1, Hull, Iowa, Nebraska)
13 – Tracy Stalls (MB, 6-4, Denver, Colo., Nebraska)
15 – Courtney Thompson (S, 5-7, Kent, Wash., Washington)
18 – Foluke Akinradewo (MB, 6-3, Plantation, Fla., Stanford)

Here’s the writeup from USAVolleyball.org

Next up is a match against Netherlands on August 8th, followed by a match against Germany on August 9th.

U.S. Women’s National Team Roster