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LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 20, 2022 - Most
women’s teams competing in the Volleyball
Nations League 2022 showed some level of
improvement in the second week of the
tournament, but very few did so in such a clear
and strong way as the Dominican Republic.
After losing all their four matches and taking
just two sets two weeks ago in
Shreveport-Bossier City, USA, the Dominicans
were among the top teams in the second week,
when they won three of their four matches in
Brasilia, Brazil, and added points in all of
their four matches.
The Dominican improvement was clear right from
the beginning of the second week, as the
Caribbean swept Tokyo Olympic semifinalists
Korea on Wednesday. That was the only relatively
short match ‘Las Reinas del Caribe’ (The Queens
of the Caribbean) had in the week.
A 3-2 defeat to reigning European champions
Italy was next, followed by a victory, also in
five sets, against the Netherlands. The
Dominicans almost went to five sets again on
Sunday against Germany, but won a close fourth
set to triumph 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 11-25, 27-25)
and end a productive week on a high.
“I am so proud of my team,” outside hitter
Brayelin Martinez commented after the match
against the Germans. “We have a really young
team this year and we’re making great progress.
We didn’t do well in the first week, but
everything has changed now. We’ve been working
so hard and I’m proud of everybody. We didn't
want to go to five sets again, and I’m glad we
managed to win at the end, we did a great job.”
Martinez, who spent the last few years playing
as an opposite for the Dominicans, was moved to
the outside hitter position this week. The
tactical change was one of the keys to the
Dominican improvement as it allowed the team to
have all three of their strongest hitters
(Martinez, outside hitter Yonkaira Pena and
opposite Gaila Gonzalez) on the court at the
same time.
The three were instrumental in the Dominican
victory against the Germans, with Pena scoring
18 points (16 kills, two blocks), Gonzalez
adding 17 (15 kills, one ace, one block) and
Martinez tallying nine (all in kills). Her
younger sister Jineiry was also in excellent
form, producing 16 with eight kills and eight
blocks.
The nine points won in Brasilia moved the
Dominicans up to tenth place in the VNL and they
will try to make a run for a spot in the VNL
Finals in the third week of the tournament, when
they will face Bulgaria, Thailand, China and
Poland in Sofia, Bulgaria, from June 28-July 3.
“The first pool was very difficult for us,”
captain Niverka Marte reflected. “We have a
young group of players and sometimes it takes
time for these players to get confident on the
court. There are no easy matches in the VNL and
we’ll keep taking one step at a time.” |
