Dominican Republic put up a tough fight, but lose in four to Brazil

NAGOYA, Japan, June 3, 2023.- Dominican Republic finished their Nagoya campaign on 2-2 and four points, after losing to Brazil 3-1 (27-25, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25) in a Pool 2 game on Saturday at the Volleyball Nations League 2023.

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Dominican opposite Gaila Gonzalez was the best scorer of the match. She fuelled her team’s battle against the mighty opponents with 22 points, including three blocks and an ace. Overall, the Dominicans outblocked Brazil by 14 to 11, with the Martinez sisters (Jineiry with four and Brayelin with three) delivering seven of these stuffs between them.

Dominican Republic recovered from the four-point deficit they had at 16-12 and gradually levelled the score at 23-23 to prompt an exciting epilogue. On Brazil’s third set point, Ana Cristina fired a block-out shot for the ninth point on her tally and the last one in the first set – 27-25. After 8-8 in the second set, the Dominicans took control of the scoreboard for good. Jineiry Martinez dominated over the net and, finally, she crowned a series of three Dominican points with a monster block, her third for the set, to level the match at 25-20.

The South Americans had the lead, sometimes as wide as four points, for the most part of the third set, but their opponents kept fighting. At 18-18 was the last time the score was level in this set. Brazil broke away again and, at their first set point, libero Natalia Araujo practically scored the 25-21 winner after the opposition failed to handle the ball she sent over with a spectacular dig. In set four, Dominican Republic was once again competitive enough to recover from the seven-point lag they had at 18-11. In the money time, Brazil even had to deny two Dominican set points before converting their first match point to a 27-25 win on a block-out kill by opposite Lorrayna Da Silva.