Sisters Martinez lead RD win over Bulgaria

BANGKOK, Thailand - The sisters Brayelin and JIneiry Martínez contributed 26 and 17 points, respectively, to the Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 29-31, 25-20) victory over Bulgaria in the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League on Thursday.

It was the fifth victory against four setbacks for the Dominican squad that in the previous match had beaten host Thailand in five crippling sets.

The Dominicans dominated the first two instances and the third was a point-by-point battle when the coach Marcos Kwiek gave play opportunities to several of his substitutes.

Bethania de la Cruz scored 12 and Gaila González left the bench to contribute 10 to the winning cause. Prisilla Rivera scored 9.

For Bulgaria, Miroslava Paskova was the most outstanding on the offense with 20 points, followed by Gergana Dimitrova and Silvana Chausheba with 19 and 13, respectively.

Again the defense of the Dominican team was present at the net with 16 points via blocks, four by Jineiry and three by Brayelin.

The fourth round of the Nations League will have the Dominican team playing in Stuttgart, Germany against the teams of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.