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RENO, USA (Aug. 17, 2015)
– Puerto Rico fought back from two sets down to defeat Dominican
Republic, 17-25, 22-15, 25-17, 25-23, 15-11 on Monday in the Pan
American Cup seventh-place match.
Puerto Rico (1-4) got its first victory of the tournament to
finish seventh while Dominican Republic (1-5) was eighth.
After Dominican Republic won the first two sets, Puerto Rico
found its rhythm in the third, taking a 15-10 lead and
increasing it to 22-15 before winning 25-17. Puerto Rico led the
fourth set 23-20 when the Dominican Republic pulled to within
one point at 23-22. Puerto Rico reached set point on kill from
opposite Maurice Torres. The Dominican Republic responded with a
block, but Puerto Rico’s Josue Rivera won it with a kill.
The Dominican Republic led the tie-breaker 5-1 but Puerto Rico
kept up the pressure at the net and also took advantage of
Dominican mistakes to tie the score at 9-9 and then lead 11-9.
Dominican Republic tied the score at 11-11, but Puerto Rico
scored on two spikes by Torres and an ace from Josue Nunez to
reach match point. The Dominican Republic was then given a red
card to give Puerto Rico the victory.
Puerto Rico led the match in spikes (70-62), blocks (10-7) and
aces (3-1). Dominican Republic scored on 31 Puerto Rico errors
while committing 21.
Torres led all players in scoring with 24 points on 23 spikes
and one ace. Nunez added 17 points for Puerto Rico on 15
attacks, one block and on ace. Jessie Colon had a match-high
four blocks for Puerto Rico.
Luis Adames paced Dominican Republic with 23 points on 23
attacks. Henry Lopez added 19 points on 19 spikes.
Puerto Rico captain, Edgardo Goas
“That ace from our middle was the key to the set. Sometimes it’s
better to be lucky than not but that point was a key point in
the match. We kept our composure and I think those last three
sets went really well. Yesterday’s match we lost in the same way
with us having to come back and we fell short but today we
finished strong which is that matters.”
Puerto Rico head coach, Abdell Otero
“They improved over the course of the tournament. They trained
so hard, they weren’t like that before mentally. They kept their
composure we blocked and served well. If they saw me arguing to
the referees they would do the same thing but sometimes I do
that for the energy of the team to maintain a high level. But we
kept fighting with only one week of practice and a lot of
injuries. It was a good win for the team and the program.”
Dominican Republic head coach, Jose Alvarez Cutino
“It was a very good match. We played the first two sets very
well but the level of play went down in the last three. It was a
great match but it was our time to lose. The referee shouldn’t
be the star of the match. You have to let the players play.” |
