Dominican Republic outplays Honduras

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 29, 2012 – World No. 9 Dominican Republic cruised to a lopsided victory (25-5, 25-5, 25-7) over Honduras in the first match at the NORCECA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Tijuana Multi Sports Gymnasium on Sunday.

The strong serves of the Dominican Republic proved to be the key for the victory as they outscored their opponents 29-1 in the aces category.

Gina Mambrú led the way with 9 aces among her match-high 14 points. Cindy Rondon and Prisilla Rivera contributed to the victory with 12 and 10 points including 8 and 5 aces respectively. Candida Arias tallied 8 with five service winners.

“We always respect the rivals, no matter who they are,” Dominican Captain Milagros Cabral said. “This was one of my better days here talking about my health due to the changing weather, but that is not an obstacle for hard work and keep going”.

 “I think we were a little bit tense, because we faced a very powerful team like Dominican Republic,” Honduras Captain Catarine Leiva said. “We have a team with very young players that are from 15 to 20 years old.”

“This was the first step in our dream of a berth in the Olympic Games,” Dominican Republic’s Coach Marcos Kwiek commented. “I am happy for the return of Gina Mambru who is a key player for our team, and the effectiveness of our services is a consequence of very hard work”.

“We faced a lot of high balls cause we played against a very tall team, with a lot of power, anyway It was nice to see they were able to get things going, focusing in the pass,” Honduras Coach Matt Winkler said.