Argentina takes down Dominican Republic

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, May 8, 2017. -  Argentina downed Dominican Republic in straight sets 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 in opening day of the U20 Women’s Pan American Cup at Gimnasio Nacional of San Jose, Costa Rica.

Argentina had a well-structured performance, neutralizing Dominicans’ strong spikers in their debut of the tournament that grants two spots – one for the top ranked Norceca team and one for the top South American team – for the FIVB World Championship.

Dominicans led 33-30 in spikes but Argentina was better in blocking with 9-4 margin, as well as in service points by 3-0. Argentina scored on 33 Dominican errors while committing 18 of their own.

Florenca Tosi led Argentina with 10 points and Madeline Guillen with 13 points topped Dominican Republic, they were the only double-digit scorers.

On day two, Argentina faces United States and Dominican Republic has a rest day.

Azul Benitez, Argentina’s captain: “We are pleased to have executed our game plan. We always study our opponents and our performance developed well. Both confederations have strong teams and every team deserves respect, this tournament is very competitive

Yokaty Perez, Dominican Republic’s captain: “Nothing was working for us, our leaders weren’t taking responsibility during our performance; key spikers didn’t execute and if we continue like this we won’t be able to win. We had too many errors and Argentina plays tactically, we lacked strength to dominate them. We had no control of the match”.

Guillermo Caceres, Argentina’s Head Coach: “We played well, we had fewer errors than our opponent and we took the lead. There were long rallies and it wasn’t easy to score, Dominicans have strength and we needed to be more tactical. I consider that every match here is a final match, all the teams here have goo level; it will be a difficult tournament”.

Wagner Pacheco, Dominican Republic’s Head Coach: “Argentina plays very good, this is a team with a lot of experience, they have a lot of years playing together. We need to perform much better, I expected more from my team and I know we could have done it better. During set three we recovered well but we lost focus, this is proof that we can do more”.