Dominicans advance undefeated to semifinals

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 15, 2014 – Dominican Republic secured a direct spot in the semifinals of the XIII Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup following a straight set (25-22, 25-14, 25-22) victory over Canada at Juan de la Barrera Gymnasium on Sunday.

The win earned the Dominicans a 5-0 win-loss record while the Canadians fell to a 3-2 mark.

The winners held a 10-4 difference in the blocking category and a slight margin in aces 6-5. They also had 36 kills to 31 by the losers.

Bethania De la Cruz paced the balanced Dominican Republic offense with 15 points, followed by Yonkaira Peña who finished with 12. Brittney Page and Marisa Field had 12 and 8 points, respectively, for Canada.

“It was our best game of the preliminary round,” Dominican Republic’s Coach Marcos Kwiek said. “We served well and organized our blocking and the defense. We have achieved our first goal that was winning the pool.”

“We improved a lot compared to yesterday and I am very glad with getting the pass to the semifinals where we expected tough matches,” De la Cruz said.

“It was not our best game as we didn’t serve well and couldn’t use our best element which is the blocking,” Canada’s coach Arn Ludwig said. “If you don’t have a good blocking against a team  like Dominican Republic you don’t have a chance.”

“We didn’t have good services and were not able to recover until the third set,” Page said. “We played good in the third set but it was not enough.”