Dominican Republic power past Nicaragua into World Championship

LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic, May 18, 2014 – The Dominican Republic advanced to the FIVB Women’s World Championship in Italy after crushing Nicaragua in consecutive sets (25-10, 25-8, 25-11) in front of around 4,000 spectators at Eleoncio Mercedes Coliseum on Sunday.

The eighth world-ranked Dominicans put a show of powerful volleyball with lightning spikes and serves proving to be too much for the Nicaraguan side.

It will be the seventh time the Dominican Republic take part in the FIVB World Championship. They took part in the 1974, 1978 editions and have been present in all the competitions from 1998 to 2010.

Yonkaira Peña and Gina Mambru contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively, in the victory with both players recording three serving aces and one block. Middle blockers Marianne Fersola and Candida Arias chipped in 8 and 7 points.

Nicaragua was paced by Heidy Traña’s 9 points.

The Dominicans held an 11-0 margin in aces and outblocked their opponents 9-2. They also dominated in the attacks 40-16.

“It was a phenomenal performance by our team,” Brazilian Marcos Kwiek said about the Dominicans. “Everything worked like a perfect machine and I am very proud because they were really focused despite the difference between the two teams.”

“It was a great weekend for me and my team,” the MVP Mambru said. “I am really happy with the way we played, especially today when we put everything together.”

Nicaragua’s Coach Rene Quintana stated: “The Dominican team is very strong and we did our best out there. It was a learning experience for us. Now we have to prepare for the final playoff against the other second place teams of the other pools.”

In the match for third place, El Salvador defeated Guadeloupe 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-15, 25-23).

Adriana Flores led El Salvador with 22 points followed by Madeline Gonzalez with 12, including three aces.

Isabelle Acina topped Guadeloupe with 14 points, three blocks and three aces included. Lauranne Meslier de Rocan and Sylvia Sidney added 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss.