Dominican Republic Move into Quarterfinals with Win over Costa Rica

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, September 18, 2024. - Dominican Republic advanced to the quarterfinals of the U23 Men’s Pan American Cup with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22) victory over Costa Rica at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo, Suriname.

The Dominican Republic (1-2) finished third in Pool A and will face the second-place team from Pool B (yet to be determined) in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Costa Rica (0-3) will compete in the matches for positions 5 to 8.

The Dominican Republic led in attacks (59-45) and blocks (14-6). Both teams scored 5 direct points from serves. The Dominican Republic gave away 29 points on errors, while Costa Rica committed 20 errors.

Dominican opposite Adrián Figueroa led all scorers with 29 points (28 attacks, one block), followed by outside hitters Rony Molina and Edward Rojas with 16 and 13 points respectively. Cristofer Andujar had a match-high of 5 blocks.

Costa Rican middle blockers Luis Eduardo Solano and Jeremy Vanega led their team with 11 points each.

The Dominican Republic opened the match with a comfortable four-point lead (13-9), applying pressure with serves and attacks from Adrián Figueroa and Ronny Molina, and never trailed. Luis Solano and Franco Molina helped Costa Rica gain a five-point advantage (7-2) at the start of the second set, but the Dominicans tied it at eight points. From there, the score remained close until it was tied at 20 points. With three Costa Rican errors and a point from Molina, the Dominican Republic secured the second set. Costa Rica started the third set strong, building an eight-point lead (12-4) with offensive help from Diego Delgado and Jeremy Vanega. Costa Rica stayed ahead but gave up four set points on Cristofer Andujar blocking, attacks from Figueroa, and their own errors before forcing a fourth set. The fourth set was tied at 21 points; with three attacks, a serve, and an error, the Dominican Republic won.

Eliander Jiménez, libero for the Dominican Republic: “After winning two sets, we lost focus and got overconfident. I think we underestimated Costa Rica, but they showed the opposite. Costa Rica played better than us in the third set. We adjusted our reception in the fourth set, the outside hitters woke up since only the opposite was attacking, and I improved in defense. We played with more harmony to get the result”.

Anderson Barboza, libero for Costa Rica: “I feel that we always supported each other on the court. We had several errors in reception, which I think caused us to lose today. We will work on that aspect to get the results we expect. Despite the outcome, we did well”.