The Dominican Republic’s Bethania de la Cruz de Pea (born May 13, 1987) is a star volleyball player. She helped lead her country to victories at the 2009 NORCECA Championship and the 2010 Pan-American Cup.
B. De La Cruz Olympics
During her time with the Dominican professional club Mirador, De la Cruz was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
In 2006, while competing for the Dominican Republic’s junior national team, De la Cruz was named MVP and Top Scorer at the U-20 NORCECA Women’s Junior Continental Championship.
After winning the bronze medal in beach volleyball at the 2006 National Championship with Karla Echenique, she was named “Dominican Republic Volleyball Player of the Year” and “Most Valuable Player” at the 2006 TV Azteca’s Women Stars Volleyball Cup” in Monterrey, Mexico .
De la Cruz joined Mirador for the 2019 season of the Dominican Republic Superior Volleyball League from the National District, winning the League Championship and being awarded Most Valuable Player and Best Spiker.
She is currently playing for the ongoing 2019 Indonesian Proliga club Jakarta Pertamina Energi, where she has helped her club to the league’s second place and won the Best Server individual award.
Soon after, she signed with Dynamo Kazan in Russia, where she won the 2019 Russian Cup and the award for Best Server.
The championship was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, but Dinamo Kazan was still crowned the season champion. Dinamo Kazan offered her an extension for the 2020/21 season, but she did not respond in time.
Conclusion
While competing for the Kazakh club Altay Volleyba in the 2021 Club World Championship, de la Cruz finished in second place with 3,690 points in the players-centered, American league Athletes Unlimited Volleyball, behind Olympic American player Jordan Larson’s 4,569. She was named 2021 Volleyball Player of the Year and nominated for the Athlete of the Year award, which was ultimately won by water skier Robert Pigozzi.
