Dominican Republic beat Colombia and qualified to the semifinal

LIMA, Peru, August 16, 2018 - Dominican Republic sealed its direct qualification to the semifinal of the IV U23 Pan American Cup after defeating Colombia with a convincing 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-15 ) at the Manuel Bonilla Coliseum in Miraflores.

Controlling from the serving area, the Dominican Republic showed all the variants of their effective attack by their top scorers Gaila Gonzalez, Brayelin Martínez and Jineiry Martínez who had 17, 13 and 10 points, respectively. While for Colombia the opposite Ana Karina Olaya led with 13 goals.

Although Colombia fought to defend each ball, it was not enough to stop the fast Dominican game that dominated in attacks (45-28), blocking (6-4) and services (7-2). The winning team scored through 17 unforced errors from their opponent, and reduced their own to only 7.

The captain of the Dominican Republic, Brayelin Martinez: "We knew it would be a game with more difficulty than the previous ones, but I feel very proud because we did all the strategy that had been planned. In the games that come, we will play three times what we did today, in order to fulfill our goal of keeping the gold medal."

The captain of Colombia, Valerin Carabali: "Despite the result I think Colombia is growing more and more, we still have a lot to show and we know that each match is an experience that adds up in our preparation for the South American U20; where we will fight to qualify for the World Cup."