Dominican Republic
was too much for Trinidad and Tobago
Canada, September 18, 2007,
Today’s game was going to see two teams, one that is a team that
is quickly emerging as a world power and another emerging onto the
international volleyball scene. Despite the lopsided competition,
both teams would come out of the match having gained experience or
furthering their opportunity to qualify for the Olympics.
It was clearing the first set that the Dominican Republic was
conserving energy and doing only what was need to win. This is not
to say they were not respecting their worthy opponent. The
Dominican’s led for the entire set up 8-3 and 16-10 at the
technical time outs and easily cruised on to an opening set
victory of 25-13.
Sets 2 and 3 were much of the same. The power and experience of
the Dominican team was just too much for Trinidad and Tobago. But
despite the scores, you could see the improvement and the passion
on the Trinidadians faces. They were there to fight until the end
and that is exactly what they did. In order to improve their
players and their programs, these matches must be played.
Scores of the final two sets were 25-12 and 25-13 in favour of the
Dominican Republic.
Top scorer for the Dominican Republic was Bethania De La Cruz De
Pena with 18 points on 16 kills, 1 block and 1 service ace while
Krystle Esdelle led the way for Trinidad and Tobago with 8 points
on 5 kills and 3 blocks.
Post Match Quotes:
Team Dominican Republic
Cosiri Rodriguez – Captain
“What we are trying to do is to reduce the number of errors in our
game. The past couple of competitions we have had to many unforced
errors, and we need to eliminate these errors and try to play as a
unified team. I think Trinidad and Tobago has been improving a
lot; we want to congratulate them on this. We will look to
continue improving every day in order to reach our goal, to be in
the best shape for the Olympic qualification tournament.”
Miguel Cruz Beato - Head Coach
“I knew that this match was not going to be a very difficult
match, but we know that Trinidad is at one level and we are at a
different level. In the first two sets I wanted to use my six
starters, because I am trying to get my setters synchronized with
the players, because tomorrow our big matches will begin. I think
tomorrow will be a great challenge for us when we play the USA.
With respect to Trinidad and Tobago, I know the process will be a
long one, and this is normal, but I have seem a great deal of
improvement.”
Team Trinidad and Tobago
Renele Forde – Captain
“I don’t think we played as well today as we did yesterday against
the USA. We could have done much better. We could have fought more
and challenged them more, but our team still needs a lot of work.”
Francisco Cruz - Head Coach
“It is not good for the coach to speak good about the team in the
general manner, because the team has a number of things to
improve. Even the best teams in the world need to improve.
However, considering the time that this team as been together, and
the difficulty of training in Trinidad, I have not choice but to
say that I am very satisfied with the tournament they are having.
I also think that we could have played just a little bit better,
understanding the competitive gap between the two teams. I think I
am also to blame, as I am always talking to my team about the
Dominican team and the players of the Dominican Republic, using
them as an example, and perhaps this has made them a little afraid
of this team. They were much looser in yesterday’s match against
the USA.”
