Dominican Republic wins Pool B at NORCECA U-20

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, August 23, 2012 – Brayelin Martinez piled up 33 points leading Dominican Republic to a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 27-25) victory over Mexico in the match for top place in Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Junior Continental Championship.

Dominican Republic held a 15-5 advantage in the blocking category while Mexico topped 7-4 in serves. Mexico pressed in the fourth as the Dominicans weren’t able to seal the match until the second match point.

Gaila Gonzalez contributed 12 points to the victory of Dominican Republic. Mexico’s Alejandra Isiordia and Lizbeth Sainz finished with 22 and 19 tallies respectively.

“This match was more challenging for us, I’m happy with the win, but not too much because it could have been better for us, we lost concentration during the second set because we pressured ourselves trying to do things well,” Dominican Republic’s captain Pamela Soriano said.

Alejandra Isiordia commented: “We responded well to the Dominicans’ pressure, we’re still in the game because this hasn’t finished yet and this isn’t the way we can play, we’ll be giving our best as there’s still road ahead.”

Wagner Pacheco said he was not completely satisfied. “We finished in first but surprises may come and today we didn’t perform that well, we made mistakes that Mexico took advantage of, their captain had an excellent match at a superior level.

 “First I would like to congratulate Dominican Republic it was tactically a great match, this hasn’t ended and the qualification is still in stake, we must wait to see who will be our opponent,” Argentina’s  Etanislao Vacino coach for Mexico said.