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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, April 23, 2015 – Hosts
Dominican Republic took down Mexico in straight sets (25-21,
25-16, 25-9) to finish the round-robin phase of the U20 Women’s
Pan American Cup with a spotless win-loss record of 5-0.
The Dominicans will play Argentina for the gold medal while
Mexico will challenge Chile for the bronze medal on Friday
night.
The big difference in the match resided in the attacks with the
Dominicans scoring with 42 spikes compared to 20 by Mexico. The
winners held slight advantages in blocks (6-4) and aces (7-6).
Gaila Gonzalez spearheaded the Dominican offense with a
match-high 19 points, followed by Natalia Martinez with 17
points, including four aces, and Jineiry Martinez with 10
tallies. Maria Rodriguez led Mexico with 15 points.
“In the first set we made many mistakes with our serves and our
blocking didn’t work as usual,” said Yocaty Perez, the Dominican
setter and captain. “But then we caught the rhythm and got the
victory.”
“It was a good match and we took advantage of the opportunity to
play against the Dominicans,” said Rodriguez. “In the last set,
we didn’t have the right attitude.”
Wagner Pacheco, coach of Dominican Republic said: “As my captain
said, we failed with our serves and didn’t block well in the
first set. We won it due to our strength and experience. After
the first set our game was fluid and we got the win. Our
difficulties in the first set came from being too confident.
Tomorrow we have the decisive match and it’s only one contest so
all the victories are in the past.”
Luis Leon, coach of Mexico said: “Half of my team is playing
internationally for the first time and it showed in the court.
We played well in the first set but then Dominican Republic
played at the level they really have. Tomorrow we go against
Chile for the bronze and I hope we can win in three or four
sets. We won in five sets our previous match here.” |
