Gold medal again within reach for Dominican Republic

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 9, 2010 – Dominican Republic advanced for the fourth consecutive time to the gold medal match of the NORCECA Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship by scoring a 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 14-25, 25-16) victory over Cuba on Friday.

The winning side also secured a place in next year’s FIVB World Championship for players under 20-years-old due to take place in Peru.

Candida Arias led the Dominicans with 13 points while Ana Yorkira Binet, Marianne Fersola and Alicia Moreno charted 12, 11 and 9 points respectively. Cubans Jennifer Alvarez and Sulian Matienzo each recorded 17 tallies and Rosana Giel added 10.

“Today we have achieved two goals with the medal secured and the ticket to the World Championship,” Dominican Republic, Coach Wagner Pacheco said. “Our serves were the key for us.”

“It is a major step for us,” Captain Jennifer Ramirez said. “We gave our best against a team like Cuba with a strong offense”.

“We played well but the inexperience worked against us,” Cuba’s Wilfredo Robinson said. “But we still have a chance to take one of the medals and get the ticket to Peru.”