The world No 2 team stayed top of Pool 12 after being briefly tested by the South Americans before handing them their 16th head-to-head defeat, 25-20 25-23 25-21. The world champions, after beating the Netherlands 3-1 and losing to Turkey 2-3 in their first two matches, have since won six matches in a row without conceding a set.

The US continued their domination in the 16-nation standings with seven wins from eight matches.

USA Head Coach Karch Kiraly said: “ Dominican Republic played a great game last night against Thailand and they pushed us very hard today. They’re honestly improving.  We know each other very well because we’re from the same zone. If you look at our line-ups, we have been trying lots of different combinations; we tried another one today, and we will try a different one tomorrow.”

The two sides were neck and neck at 10-all in the first set before the league leaders upped their gear to take a 13-10 lead with a fast attacking game. After failing to convert several set points, Kelly Murphy blasted a smash to win the opener 25-20.

In the second set, the US started strongly building a 10-6 lead before the Dominicans rallied back to 9-10 thanks to impressive serves from Niverka Dharlenis Marte.

Dominica took advantage of a rare US wobble to lead for the first time at 18-17 and seemed poised at 21-19, but USA’s Michelle Bartsch-Hackley levelled to 21-all with a spike and powerful serve. At 23-all, USA came up with two solid blocks to wrap up the second set. The third set was a repeat, with Dominica taking the lead several times only to succumb to the USA surge that left Dominican Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez with an impossible-to-handle ball from her teammate on match point.

Thailand went into last night’s game against Germany ready to make amends for below-par play that saw them lose 3-0 to Dominica on Tuesday. However, fans were again disappointed as the local side lost in five sets.

A full house is expected for the final game in today when Thailand take on the US  before the series resumes in Nakhon Ratchasima on Tuesday.