Dominicans bounce back to beat Canada

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 5, 2016 - Hosts Dominican Republic improved to 4-0 in Pool A with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-13) win over Canada (2-2) at the XV Women’s Pan American Cup on Tuesday night.

The home side bounced back from deficits of 19-12 and 24-21 to take the first set and never looked back.

Dominican Bethania de la Cruz was the top scorer of the match with 12 points. Teammate Annerys Vargas contributed 8 points in the victory and Gina Mambru and Brayelin Martinez chipped in with 7 points apiece.

Shainah Joseph and Michaela Reesor had 11 and 10, respectively, for Canada.

The Dominican Republic will play Puerto Rico for the top place in Pool A and a direct ticket to the semifinal phase. Canada will meet winless Mexico looking to secure third place and the pass to the quarterfinals.

“Canada played an excellent first set with strong serves and we were a little below our used level,” said Marcos Kwiek, the coach of Dominican Republic. “We made some substitutions that functioned well and at the end we got the victory in three sets.”

“We started playing very well and leading 24-21 maybe my players started to think too much about winning the set and put pressure on themselves,” Canada’s coach Arnd Ludwig said. “We made some mistakes and the Dominicans improved and served well, made some blocks and (Brenda) Castillo made some good digs.”