Dominican Republic dominates Venezuela

MONTERREY, Mexico, November 8, 2013. -Dominican Republic dominated Venezuela 3-1 (25-23, 12-25, 25-22, 28-26) on Friday afternoon at the I Men’s Final Four Cup.

A strong battle for both teams where Venezuelans where resilient to lose coming out strong but Dominicans responded stronger to improve their record to 2-1. The fourth set turned out to be the most exciting so far in the tournament. This concluded the preliminary round for both; Venezuela will battle for the Bronze Medal of the eventand Dominican Republic awaits the result between Mexico and Canada.

Dominicans led 12-10 in the blocking category and in spikes by 53-48; they also made more unforced errors than those of the Venezuelan side 33-23. Venezuela led in aces by 5-2.

For the Dominican team, Omar Tapia registered a match high with 22 points, all in spikes, and also closing with double digits were Pedro Luis Garcia and Elnis Palomino with 16 and 10 points respectively. Venezuela was led by Luis Arias with 17 points followed by 14 points by Jonathan Quijada and 11 points by Willner Rivas.

“My team knew how to up with the heat, we were with great attitude. Venezuela found our weaknesses in the second set but we came back strong to finish with the win. I’m glad and hoping to fight for the gold” indicated captain Heredia of Dominican Republic.

“Congratulations to Dominican Republic” began Luis Arias, with a humble attitude “but I also congratulate my team because our efforts were solid; we are developing and improving with every match, continuing our preparation to Bolivariano Games in two weeks” he concluded.

Both Cuban coaches expressed sympathy for each team as it was a good performance for both squads.

“Our experience definitely made the difference but Venezuelans have lots of potential and talent, they just finished in sixth place a world championship” indicated Osiel Vasquez.

“I’m satisfied, we’ve been accommodating little by little despite the difficulties and my boys have a bright future ahead. It’s important to compete in international tournaments to gain more experience. I only wish the best for Dominican Republic for tomorrow” said Gerardo Nodarse.