Dominican Republic Tops Trinidad & Tobago to Win Pool A

OMAHA, Nebraska, September 18, 2013 – Dominican Republic swept Trinidad & Tobago 25-13, 25-20, 25-13 Wednesday afternoon on the final day of pool play at the Visit Omaha NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship at Ralston Arena.

With the victory Dominican Republic captured Pool A with a 2-0 record and 10 points. The squad will await the final results of other pool matches today to determine if it advances directly to Friday’s semifinals as one of the top two pool winners or it will play a quarterfinal on Thursday as the lowest ranked pool winner.

Trinidad & Tobago, which ended the group stage with a 1-1 record and three points, will play in Thursday’s quarterfinal round as the second-place team from Pool A.

Bethania de La Cruz led Dominican Republic with 18 points, including four aces and four blocks. Prisilla Rivera added 12 points and Annerys Vargas Valdez contributed 10 points. Trinidad & Tobago was paced by Channon Thompson’s 10 points and Krystle Esdelle chipped in nine points.

Dominican Republic benefited from 25 Trinidad & Tobago errors while limited its own miscues to seven for the match. Dominican Republic held margins in all three scoring categories: 35-30 in kills, 7-5 in blocks and 8-4 in aces.

Dominican Republic Captain Bethania de La Cruz: “(The second set score) was due to Trinidad & Tobago. They are a better team than they have been in the past and they showed that in the second set. We just have to be ready for that.”

Dominican Republic Coach Marcos Kwiek: “The strategy going into the game was to improve our serving game and be more aggressive. I think we showed that today. The other tactic today was to improve our blocking and defense as well.”

Trinidad & Tobago Captain Krystle Esdelle: “A short team like we are, we just have to do what we can. All we have to do is play hard. If we play hard, everything will be OK. I think we have to work on serve and pass and getting our passes up and a little more communication in the coverage of the court.”

Trinidad & Tobago Coach Francisco Cruz: “The plan today was to improve our serving, which we did. That team (the Dominican Republic) is at a much higher level. The Trinidad team is a very young team so there is a lot to work on.”

Photos of the match can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7s2s5jsn58zrhna/EJjztPRlt1. All matches in the Visit Omaha NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship can be viewed online at http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Events/Live-Webcast.