Dominican Republic improves 2-0 at Santiago 2023 beating Mexico
SANTIAGO, Chile, October 22, 2023.- Defending
champions Dominican Republic beat Mexico 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-19) to
improve 2-0 at the Women’s Volleyball Tournament of the Santiago 2023
Pan American Games on Sunday at the Arena Parque O’Higgins.
Dominican Republic stands undefeated in Pool B and Mexico after
suffering their first loss are with a 1-1 mark. Dominicans will finish
the preliminary round on Monday against Colombia and Mexico will face
hosts Chile.
The Dominicans dominated the first and second sets with strong defense
from Brenda Castillo and coordinated attacking.
In the third set, Mexico gave more competition after recovering from
being down 16-19 and tying the score at 19 points. However, Dominican
Republic closed it with a rally of six consecutive points.
Dominicans dominated in attacking 41-30, in blocking 7-2 and in serving
2-1, benefiting from 24 opponent errors and giving away 18.
Dominican Outside hitter Yonkaira Peña led all scorers with 19 points on
15 kills and a match-high of 4 blocks. Brayelin Martinez contributed 10
points on 8 kills, one block and one ace.
Outside hitter Aimé Topete led Mexico with 9 points all on kills.
Outside hitter Grecia Castro and team captain Jocelyn Urias added 6
points each.
Yonkaira Peña, the top scorer for the Dominican Republic, said, “The
matches against Mexico are always tough because we know each other well.
We’re happy that everything went well. We lost a bit of concentration in
the last two sets, but we were able to push through and get the
victory”.
Aimé Topete of Mexico stated, “I thought it was a good match. Dominican
Republic is a great team, and I’m very proud of my teammates because we
fought until the last point, and we’re going to keep going like this”.
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