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PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, June 5, 2022.-
The Dominican Republic was more impetuous and
defeated Mexico 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25,
15-9) to claim the second place of the Norceca
Challenger Final Four, which concludes this
Sunday in Sala 19 de Noviembre.
The Dominicans finished with a record of two
wins, both extended to five sets, and a setback
against the powerful team from Cuba, champion of
the tournament. Mexico concluded with a balance
of 1-2.
The Dominican team was led by its two figures
with the longest time in the sport, Wilfrido
Hernández, top scorer with 25, and Henry Omar
Tapia, who contributed 20, followed by Henry
Antonio López with 18.
For their rivals, the opposite Diego González
was the most productive with 24, while Josué
Lopez with 14, and Axel Téllez and Mauro
Fuentes, with 11 each, were the ones who
achieved double figures.
José Alexander Gutiérrez, Venezuelan coach of
the Dominican Republic: “We have just tried to
mix experience and youth. We won the game, but
we have to keep working, gaining experience and
keep growing. In this match the fundamental
thing was our serve, Mexico has good attackers
and when you press them in reception they lose
control. In the end we risked and won”
"This result joins the qualification for two
junior world championships that the Dominican
Republic had not achieved for more than 28 years
and the 2023 Pan American Games that have never
been done in a qualifying way, but we still have
a long way to go."
Wilfrido Hernández, top scorer of the game: “I
think it was a game well played by both teams,
Mexico has always been brave, fighting until the
end. I think we won because we made fewer
mistakes in the last set, we focused on serving
strong, having a good complex one ourselves and
forcing them to lower the pressure on their
serve”.
Jorge Miguel Azair, Coach of Mexico: “We knew
that this game was going to be long, we are
teams that know each other very well, I think we
have the same characteristics, in the end they
were much more aggressive than us, in the fifth
we gave away balls and took the bombs. They have
to learn to improve their tactical work, they
have to learn from this and emphasize this. We
have to take the good from this tournament and
discard the bad.”
Axel Téllez, central player: “Dominicana is not
an easy team, every year we are always head to
head, but honestly today their players were
better in this game. But this does not end here,
we have many competitions ahead of us and in the
end they all serve us for our participation in
the World Championship next August”. |
