Dominican Republic win first crown at CACG

CORDOBA, Mexico, November 30 2014 - Dominican Republic conquered their first crown at the Central American and Caribbean Games after beating Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 24-22).

Elvis Contreras, who became the MVP of the competition, scored 32 points and Jose Caceres 27 for Dominican Republic, that surrendered 36 points, while Hector Soto scored 26 and Maurice Torres 16 for Puerto Rico that gave up 34.

In blocking, Dominican Republic was up 18-10 against Puerto Rico that registered a better ballance in collective aces (2 by Soto and 2 by Roberto Muniz) against two by Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico have played in four finals in a row since 2002, winning the previous three and losing the one played on Sunday at the Cordoba Arena.  Dominican Republic had previously played only two finals in the editions of 1962 and 1986. In both of them finished with the silver medal, after losing to Mexico and Cuba, respectively.

Along with that achievements the Dominicans have also won two bronze medals, in 1974 and 2006. The last time Dominican Republic were on the men’s podium was at the Games of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, eight years ago.

“I want to congratulate Dominican Republic, they were more consistent in their game and played very well and with more intensity and they knew how to solve in the key moments”, said Puerto Rican coach David Alemán.

“We spent seven months working hard and we had to recover from many hard hits as we could neither qualify to the World Championships nor the World League. We knew that we had such a great potential. This was a great match, played in high level and in a great caliber, I could say that it felt like a World League one,” Jose Angel Alvarez, coach of Dominican Republic remarked.

“We had the chance of winning the match many times, but we let it go. They kept on playing and never decreased their level. However, we also showed such a great character. I don’t think about retirement yet. I have four medals. Maybe the last one is not a gold, but as long as I can feel that fire and poise, I want to continue playing one year at a time,” said Hector Soto, captain of Puerto Rico.

“We had a training camp in Cuba for long time, I think it helped us a lot to achieve this goal. We are very glad for getting this medal. It is special as we can show that we were able to make it,” remarked Elvis Contreras, captain of Dominican Republic.

Final Ranking

1 Dominican Republic

2 Puerto Rico

3 Cuba

4 Mexico

5 Venezuela

6 Bahamas

7 Colombia

8 Trinidad and Tobago

Year-to-Year podiums

Year    Gold    Silver  Bronze

1930     MEX      CUB      ESA

1935     MEX      PUR      CUB

1938     PUR      MEX      CUB

1946     CUB      PUR      MEX

1950     MEX      CUB      PUR

1954     MEX      PUR      CUB

1959     MEX      VEN      PUR

1962     MEX      DOM     VEN

1966     CUB      VEN      MEX

1970     CUB      VEN      MEX

1974     CUB      MEX      DOM

1978     CUB      VEN      MEX

1982     CUB      MEX      VEN

1986     CUB      DOM     PUR

1990     CUB      MEX      VEN

1993     CUB      PUR      VEN

1998     CUB      MEX      VEN

2002     PUR      MEX      VEN

2006     PUR      VEN      DOM

2010     PUR      VEN      MEX

2014     DOM     PUR      CUB