Cuba stops Dominican Republic earning semifinal spot at U18

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras. August 29, 2018 - Cuba defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 with a triple 25-19, to take first place in Group A of the Norceca Sub-18 Championship for Women's Volleyball.

In this way, the Cubans will wait for a rival in the semifinals, while the Dominican Republic will face Nicaragua on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

The Cuban Thainalien Castillo led the attack with 12 points and Dezirett Madan with 10 points, while Flormarie Heredia had 11 points behind the Dominicans. Cuba led the attack 32-18 and service 9-3, but they trailed in blocking 6-7.

The powerful service of Cuba, led by Castillo and Yaimaris García, got the Dominicans into trouble, who failed to start attacking plays, losing the offense from the start of the sets.

Thalia Moreno, captain of Cuba: "It was a very important victory because the Dominican Republic is one of the best teams in this competition and today we did not give them a chance to react. We all came to the court with the same goal, we are very disciplined inside and outside the court, that's why we get these triumphs."

Jaime Echevarri, coach of Cuba: "I am very happy for the work done by the girls, it has been phenomenal. All the collective of work we set goals and we have been growing little by little. The level that we all saw is high, the receipt worked well, it was above what we imagined, the support, the assurance, they are elements that always affect us, but this time they worked".

Geraldine González, captain of Dominican: "I think we can get a lot out of this defeat, it was a very tough match, we did not give a hundred percent, we are going to come with everything tomorrow to be in the semifinals".

"We will give everything we have, hopefully it will be a final against Cuba and we hope to win. We have to go out and win the games that come in the final, I feel that if we all give the best we have we can achieve it."

Alexandre Ceccato, Dominican coach: "First I want to congratulate Cuba, they played a great game. The team did not get to play, they did very well, the reception was not good, we did not get good serves, they were better, they deserved the victory ".

"Now we are going to play against Nicaragua and if we win we will see what happens, nothing is completely lost, there is an opportunity".