Dominican Republic attains historic win over Russia

BRASILIA, Brazil, May 21, 2019 – The Dominican Republic scored its first victory ever over Russia in a major FIVB competition behind a 24-point performance by Brayelin Martinez in day one of the Women’s Nations League on Monday.

The Dominicans won 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 28-26) much to the joy of the local crowd who was supporting the team from NORCECA.

Bethania de la Cruz added 12 in the victory, Candida Arias had 10, and Jineiry Martínez and Prisilla Rivera each had 9 points in the victory. Yonkaira Peña added 7 off the bench.

Dominican Republic's captain, Rivera praised the local fans for the support during the victory of the Caribeans over Russia at the start fo VNL's 2019 season.

Rivera: “Even this being our first match this season, we won. We are still getting the rhythm, so any movement costs more. Russia is a young team, but, despite that, they are fierce, with eager to win. So we needed to focus. We had the support from Brazilian fans, and it helped a lot. When people buy the tickets to watch you playing, you have to give your 100%”

Marcos Kwiek, Dominican Republic’s head coach: “In fact, that was our first official game this season. So it is a bit hard to find the beat. Anyway, the most important is to win. We will improve each match now on, step by step. It was a important result to our team we are very happy”