De La Cruz shines in Athletes Unlimited’s opening week

A usual suspect topped the standings in the opening week of the fourth season of the American Athletes Unlimited women’s volleyball league as Dominican star Bethania De La Cruz was the most efficient among the 44 players in the league in the first week of action in Mesa, Arizona.

A league staple since its inaugural season, the 37-year-old outside hitter led the team she captained to three wins from Thursday to Monday, while also collecting several individual points.

• Watch the Athletes Unlimited League live on VBTV

The Athletes Unlimited volleyball league has a unique format, unlike any other tournament, as players earn points individually for every action they make on the court and accumulate them over the five weeks of the season. At the end of the fifth week, the one with the most points will be crowned as the champion.

The league has a 44-player roster, which is used to form four different teams every week – four players are designated as captains each week and get to draft their teammates a few days before the start of the matches of that week.

Reuniting international stars, such as the Dominican, Thai setter Nootsara Tomkom and Japanese Olympic libero Manami Kojima, Team De La Cruz went undefeated in the week, overcoming the opponents captained by American outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller, Puero Rican national team setter Natalia Valentín-Anderson and American national team libero Morgan Hentz.

De La Cruz makes history

The excellent performance has placed De La Cruz first in the standings after week one, with 1,066 points. With that, the Dominican star also became the first athlete in league history to accumulate more than 5,000 points, ending the week with 5,120.

Her team’s success helped shape the rankings after the opening week as three of her teammates occupied the next three spots, with Puerto Rican opposite Brittany Abercrombie (1,050) coming second, American middle blocker Kayla Caffey (795) ranking third and Nootsara (713) appearing in fourth place. American outside hitter Madi Kingdon, who featured for Team Valentín-Anderson, came fifth, with 711 points.

Next week, De La Cruz, Abercrombie, Caffey and Nootsara will be all in different teams as each of them will be captaining a side. The draft will be held on Tuesday and matches begin on Friday, with Team Caffey facing Team Abercrombie at 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT, Saturday) and Team De La Cruz battling Team Nootsara at 21:30 local time (2:30 GMT, Saturday). Both matches will be streamed live on VBTV for subscribers around the world.

Two more matches will be held on Sunday and another two on Monday, completing the second of five weeks of action in the Athletes Unlimited league.

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