Canada blanked Dominican Republic and move to the final match

 

MONTERREY, Mexico, December 21, 2007.- Canada scored a major surprise by blanking Dominican Republic and moving to a match for the gold medal and the Beijing Games’ berth against Cuba at the Norceca Women’s Olympic Qualifier. The scores were 27-25, 25-17, 25-19.

 

Tasha Holness and Stacey Gordon were the best Canadians with 14 and 13 points while Milagros Cabral had 12 for Dominican Republic.

 

“It is a great day for Canada’s volleyball because is the first victory over Dominican Republic in eight years,” said Naoki Miyashita, the coach of Canada. “I am very happy and looking forward to the match against Cuba. It will be a big challenge for us.”

 

“This has been our worst match of the year and I am really disappointed,” said Beato Miguel Cruz, the Dominican coach. “We could not block their attacks in zone two and our serves were not up to the used accuracy.”

 

Canada won the first set 26-24 with consecutive blocks by Stacey Gordon and Shelley Chambers against the spikes of Bethania de la Cruz. Gordon accounted for 8 Canadian points.

 

The Cannucks dominated the second set with strong blocking combined lack of coordination of their opponents and a pile of Dominican mistakes with the service.

 

In the third set, the Canadians took and early advantage at 6-1 boosted by the blocking of Tasha Holness and their lead never was threatened.