Dominican Republic advances to NORCECA U17 Semifinals

Dominican Republic advanced into the semifinals of the first edition of the NORCECA Girls’ U17 Continental Championship with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-14) victory over Nicaragua in Friday’s quarterfinals at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Dominican Republic with 3 wins and one loss will face Puerto Rico in Saturday’s semifinals, aiming to reach the title match and win one of the three berths to qualify to the 2024 FIVB World Championship. Nicaragua (1-3) will play for positions 5 to 8.

Dominican Republic led 38-22 in kills and 9-3 in blocks, while Nicaragua led  4-1 in serves. Both teams committed a similar number of errors, Dominican Republic with 23 and Nicaragua with 27.

Opposite hitter Rayni Mondesi scored 14 points on 10 attacks, 3 blocks, and one ace for the Dominican Republic. Team captain, Estel Santos, added 10 points on 9 attacks and one block.

Franchesca Viera led Nicaragua with 7 points.

After trading points in the beginning of the first set, Dominicans benefited from Nicaragua’s errors to jump to a comfortable six-point lead (14-8) and then taking control with assertive kills. In the second set teams were tied up to point 18, finally Dominican Republic took a two-point advantage with blocking defense to remain on top. With opposite Rayni Mondesi offense, Dominicans led the third set from the start to finish.

Rayni Mondesi from the Dominican Republic said, “Nicaragua gave us a good battle at the beginning, with good reception and communication. We advanced thanks to our powerful attack and improved our communication on the court, encouraging each other the entire time”.

“We maintained pressure at the beginning of the game because we had a lot of energy and fought for a victory, unfortunately, it didn’t happen. The Dominican Republic was more tactical in the third set, attacking against our block and scoring through the spaces we left uncovered over the net” said Francesca Viera from Nicaragua.