Dominican Republic to play for the gold medal

Lima, Peru, September 7, 2012 – Dominican Republic advanced to the gold medal match of the U-23 Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup by defeating Argentina in four sets (25-17, 25-17, 26-28, 25-20) in the first semifinal match at Miguel Grau Coliseum of Lima on Friday.

Jeoselyna Rodriguez led four Dominican players with double figures in the scoring sheets with 20 points, followed by Yonkaira Peña with 19. Lisvel Eve and Candida Arias added 15 and 10 with four and five blocks respectively.

Lucia Fresco was the best scorer of Argentina with a match-high 22 points. Tanya Acosta and Maria Calvete finished with 13 and 10.

The winners held a slim 8-7 advantage in aces while both teams scored via 14 blocks. The Dominicans led in attacks 51-37.

“I am very happy because we achieved our main objective by reaching the final match,” Dominican Republic’s coach Marcos Kwiek stated. “Argentina served well and forced us work but they were focused and could solve it. The players are very young who make errors but they are going through a growth process.”

“We expected to be more consistent and couldn’t defend as well as we wanted,” Argentina’s Horacio Bastit commented. “Our serves worked well but the Dominican team is very strong at the net and we are weak in that zone.”