Dominican Republic survives scary moments

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 14, 2014 – The Dominican Republic survived a strong challenge to defeat Peru in five sets (25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 18-25, 15-12) earning their fourth victory in Pool A of the XIII Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup on Saturday. The Peruvians dropped to a 1-3 mark.

Bethania De la Cruz paced the offense of the winners with 26 points as one of four players with double digits in the score charts. Yonkaira Peña added 19 and Gina Mambru and Marianne Fersola each contributed 14 points.

Maguilaura Frias topped Peru with 22 tallies followed by Angela Leyva and Karla Ortiz who finished with 13 points apiece.

The Dominicans held a 13-6 margin in the blocking category with Fersola, Mambru and De la Cruz each registering three.

“We somehow played two games in one,” Dominican Republic’s coach Marcos Kwiek commented. “We played very well for the first two sets and then lost the intensity and the concentration in the next two sets. Fortunately we bounced back in the fifth set. It is good these things happen at this part of the tournament as we prepare for the most important matches.”

“Our team has come from less to more and today we were able to play a good game against a team with experience and quality like the Dominican Republic,” Peru’s Coach Natalia Malaga said. “We continue to add experience by playing against big teams.”