Dominicans claim NORCECA U-20 Bronze Medal

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, July 13, 2014. -  Dominican Republic dominated Mexico in straight sets 25-17, 25-16, 25-19 to win the Women’s U-20 NORCECA Continental Bronze Medal on Sunday at Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium.

Mexico put up a strong resistance against Dominican Republic with both teams aiming for the podium, but in the end the scale went in favor of the Caribbean team. Dominicans showed a solid offensive and blocking line, while Mexicans struggled watching their defense crumble.

Dominicans take the third place with a 3-2 win-loss record while Mexico finishes the tournament with 2-3 record.

Dominican Republic out-blocked Mexico with wide 13-4 margin, they also held advantage in spikes by 41-32 and they made less unforced errors (14-18).

With double figures Dominican outside hitter Natalia Martinez scored a match-high of 19 points, including 16 kills. Teammates outside hitter Brayelin Martinez and opposite Ceneida Gonzalez contributed with 17 and 10 points respectively. Mexicans middle blocker Jocelyn Urias and outside hitter Fernanda Buñuelos scored 8 points apiece.

Dominican captian Brayelin Martinez said “I am very proud of my team; we left behind the loss against Cuba and keep it as a bad day. We fought the whole tournament as we always will”.

“I believe the team didn’t have enough motivation after losing the world championship berth, we weren’t able to recover. We did fight, but not enough which proves we have much to improve” said captain Fernanda Guitron.

Brazilian coach Wagner Pacheco said “the team really wanted the bronze medal; it was a tough tournament for us as we didn’t expected to lose against Cuba and yesterday’s match against USA was very demanding. My team is young and must continue to practice to qualify to the world championship which is still possible”.

Mexican coach Luis Leon expressed “the girls had every indication necessary for today’s match and we made adjustments as the match developed. I’m not satisfied because we began every set well and then failed making a difference in our scoring; our serves and blocking weren’t efficient in key moments. To qualify to the world championship there’s a lot to work on”.