|
|
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – For the first time in the
history of volleyball in the Dominican Republic, a team
representing the country was crowned world champions.
The historical feat was achieved by the U20 Women’s Team at the
FIVB Junior World Championship when the event took place in
several cities of Puerto Rico in September.
The competition concluded with a mouth-watering match between
the Dominican Republic and Brazil that went to the limit with
the islanders finally getting the edge in the five-setter 3-2
(17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 24-26, 16-14).
MVP Brayelin Martinez, the top scorer of the competition, led
the Dominican squad in the decisive contest with 32 points,
while Brazilian Lorenne Geraldo had a tournament-high 39 points.
It was the second medal for the Dominican Republic at the
women’s junior level with the first one a silver medal attained
in 2009 in Mexicali, Mexico. Brazil got their 13th
overcall podium – six first, 5 second and 2 third places.
Italy took home the bronze medal after prevailing 3-0 (28-26,
25-22, 25-19) against a hard-nose Japan.
Serbia claimed a 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-23) victory over
Peru in the battle for fifth place, while Russia came from
behind to pull a 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 15-9) win over
Bulgaria in the match for the seventh place.
China defeated Turkey 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 26-24) for the
ninth spot of the standings and Chinese Taipei secured the 11th
spot defeating Czech Republic 3-1 (26-24, 25-15, 22-25, 25-19).
Completing the final ranking,
Cuba outdueled Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25,
15-7) to sit on the 13th place while Mexico got their first
victory in the competition good for the 15th place a 3-1 (25-20,
18-25, 25-21, 25-18) win over Egypt, which went home winless.
All-Star Team
MVP: Brayelin Martinez -
Dominican Republic
Setter: Misaki Shirai - Japan
First Outside Spiker: Brayelin
Martinez - Dominican Republic
Second Outside Spiker: Bojana
Milenkovic - Serbia
First Middle Blocker: Maja
Aleksic - Serbia
Second Middle Blocker: Anna
Danesi - Italy
Opposite: Lorenne Geraldo -
Brazil
Libero: Zhana Todorova -
Bulgaria |
