Dominican Republic to finals, wins spot to FIVB WCH 

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 28 - Dominican Republic dominated Mexico 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-14) at Saturday’s semifinal to reach the final match of the Girls’ U-18 NORCECA Continental Championship. 

The Dominican Republic also booked a ticket to the 2015 Girls’ U-18 FIVB World Championship and will face defending champions USA in the Gold Medal Match. The two teams have met three times in the finals with the Americans winning on each occasion. 

Dominicans powered up with strength as Mexico fought back and forth without finding their way into the game.  The winners also performed surprisingly with excellent defense. One of the highlights of the match was in set two when the Mexicans battled to save six set-points before succumbing. 

Dominican Republic held advantage in spikes 37-26 points, a 9-4 advantage in blocks and 3-1 in service points. 

Outside hitters with double digits, Vielka Peralta (13 points), Natalia Martinez (13 points) and opposite Massiel Matos (11 points) led Dominican Republic’s offense. while Mexico had Karla Mireles and Kathya Garcia as their top scorers with 9 points each.  

Dominican captain Yokaty Perez said: “We feel very excited with the double victory. We practiced for many hours our reception and defense, as well as studied Mexico”. 

Mexican captain Francia Sanchez said: “We faced Dominican Republic as warriors, but we need to pay more attention and not losing our concentration to battle as we did in the second set. Our attitude remains high for tomorrow’s match against Puerto Rico”. 

“My teams’ physical condition is natural, they are strong and determined, and so we turned our attention to improve their reception and defense. Mexico never gives up and complicated us with their serves, I congratulate them” said Brazilian coach Alexandre Ceccato.

Ricardo Naranjo, Mexico’s coach explained that his team works well under pressure “they are mentally prepared and the tournament has not finished yet. Dominicans usually don’t defend as well as this team is doing and I really want to congratulate them. Tomorrow we have to play with intelligence to face Puerto Rico and have our mind set on winning”.