Dominican Republic battled to defeat Costa Rica 

COLIMA, Mexico, June 21, 2007.- For the first two sets, Dominican Republic had a tough battle against Costa Rica but at the end scored a 25-21, 25-22, 25-10 victory in the first match of Pool A of the Women’s Pan American Cup.

The Dominicans had to deal with an ankle injury of setter Rosalyn Angeles late in the first set but she was able to come back to start the third.

Costa Rica gave away many points with missing serves while the Dominicans won the key points overcoming their coordination problems with the spikes and serves of substitute Sidarka Nunez spikes since late in the second set.

Cindy Rondon led the winners with 13 points and Milagros Cabral added 7. Nunez, Nurys Arias and Bethania de la Cruz each contributed 6. Costa Rican Verania Willis scored 11 tallies.

“It was our first match and we had our difficulties but this is a long competition,” said Cosiris Rodriguez, the Dominican captain. “I can anticipate better performances from our team.”

“We showed our inexperience in the key moments of the first two sets when we had a chance against a team like Dominican Republic,” said Willis, the captain of Costa Rica. “We also committed too many errors with our serves.”