Dominicans start with victory over Costa Rica

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, July 18, 2010 – Defending champions Dominican Republic scored a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-20) over Costa Rica in Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament of the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games. The Dominicans outscored their opponents in blocks (11-5) and in serving aces (7-3).

Prisilla Rivera and Altagracia Mambru each recorded 10 points including 3 and 2 aces respectively. Milagros Cabral added 7 and Lisvel Eve and Cindy Rondon charted 6 points apiece. Costa Ricans Verania Willis and Karen Cope compiled 11 and 9 respectively.

“We served very well and the serve is the beginning of the action in volleyball,” Dominican Republic’s Coach Marcos Kwiek said. “We played without our libero, who was in the opening ceremony, so our goal out of the locker was to serve well and adjust our blocking.”

“We had a lot of problems with our reception and our serve was not that good either, but it was good to do well against a team like Dominican Republic who plays in a different level than ours,” Costa Rican Coach Braulio Godinez said.

“It was good to start winning and our goal is to repeat with the gold medal,” Milagros Cabral said. “We rotated our players and had to play hard against a fighting Costa Rican team.”