Dominican Republic defeats Panama at AFECAVOL WCQT round opener

BELIZE CITY, Belize, September 24, 2016.- Dominican Republic defeated Panama 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-16) at the AFECAVOL Men’s FIVB World Championship qualification tournament opening match on Saturday at St. Catherine Academy Center in Belize City.

Dominican’s dominated Panama with comfortable 9-3 margin in kills, 8-2 in blocking and 10-2 in serves. Dominican Republic committed 4 errors and Panama 7.

Opposite player Victor Castillo led Dominican Republic with 8 points, followed by outside hitter Jonathan Mercedez with 6 points. On Panama´s side, Jose Cunningham scored 3 points.

Dominican Republic next opponent on Sunday will be Honduras while Panama faces El Salvador.

Wilfrido Hernandez, captain of Dominican Republic: “Our game plan went pretty well, our goal and expectation was to beat Panama, they are a worthy opponent and we showed superiority. The team will gather with our coach, to decide our strategy for the next match, we go one step at a time”.

Domingo Avila, captain of Panama: “It was a competitive game, where Dominicans showed good condition, it was a tough match. As for us, we are working on a renovation of our national team, I’m the oldest. We have to work more on our blocking skills and reception for the next matches”.

Dante Mañon,  coach of Dominican Republic: “At the beginning it was tense because we didn’t know how Panama played, but the game plan was perfect once we gained confidence. We want to enjoy the tournament and we believe we can win this because we prepared against Mexico’s national team that went to the Olympics and we won 2 out 5 matches”.

Horacio Angulo, coach of Panama: “The team was prepared to face a highly competitive Dominican Republic, they serve strong and we needed to stop them from playing fast, this worked only in the first set. Every team of the Central American region is battling for second place because they are aware that Dominican Republic is at a higher level, the tournament among us will be difficult”.