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Dominicans conclude round-robin with spotless record

 

   

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, April 23, 2015 – Hosts Dominican Republic took down Mexico in straight sets (25-21, 25-16, 25-9) to finish the round-robin phase of the U20 Women’s Pan American Cup with a spotless win-loss record of 5-0.

The Dominicans will play Argentina for the gold medal while Mexico will challenge Chile for the bronze medal on Friday night.

The big difference in the match resided in the attacks with the Dominicans scoring with 42 spikes compared to 20 by Mexico. The winners held slight advantages in blocks (6-4) and aces (7-6).

Gaila Gonzalez spearheaded the Dominican offense with a match-high 19 points, followed by Natalia Martinez with 17 points, including four aces, and Jineiry Martinez with 10 tallies. Maria Rodriguez led Mexico with 15 points.

“In the first set we made many mistakes with our serves and our blocking didn’t work as usual,” said Yocaty Perez, the Dominican setter and captain. “But then we caught the rhythm and got the victory.”

“It was a good match and we took advantage of the opportunity to play against the Dominicans,” said Rodriguez. “In the last set, we didn’t have the right attitude.”

Wagner Pacheco, coach of Dominican Republic said: “As my captain said, we failed with our serves and didn’t block well in the first set. We won it due to our strength and experience. After the first set our game was fluid and we got the win. Our difficulties in the first set came from being too confident. Tomorrow we have the decisive match and it’s only one contest so all the victories are in the past.”

Luis Leon, coach of Mexico said: “Half of my team is playing internationally for the first time and it showed in the court. We played well in the first set but then Dominican Republic played at the level they really have. Tomorrow we go against Chile for the bronze and I hope we can win in three or four sets. We won in five sets our previous match here.”