Dominicans defeat Trinidadians for second win
 

HAVANA Cuba, October 6, 2014 – Dominican Republic scored their second win by overcoming Trinidad and Tobago in straight sets (25-12, 27-25, 25-14) at the II U-23 Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup which takes place at the Coliseum of the Sport City.  

Despite the surprise at the second set, the winning team finished the match in 69 minutes leading in spikes (30-18) and services (8-3) but not in blocks as both teams tallied five points, while the Trinidadians made 34 errors to 25 by the Dominicans.

Once again, Luis Adames was the top scorer (13) by Dominican Republic followed by the opposite hitter Luis Rodriguez (12), while by their opponents, the captain, Brandon Legall also tallied (12).

José Álvarez Cutiño, one of the four Cuban coaches who participate at this tournament showed his disappointment as his Dominican pupils continued playing with a lot of excitement. “It causes reiterated ups and downs in their performance and lead them to make many errors despite the victory.

The third set was better. As a conclusion, they have not really demonstrated what they are capable of. Tomorrow’s match against Mexico is crucial as our qualification will be decided then. Nevertheless we will come out to do our best.”       

The Dominican captain, Mario Frias, was disappointed for decreasing their fighting spirit in the second set and therefore their rivals were leading the set up to 25. “It was then when we knew how to react. I believe we were better at service, but not in blocks. Nevertheless we hope to continue making progress, and against Mexico we will fight for a 3-0 win.”

Gideon Dickson, coach of Trinidad and Tobago, stated that “regardless of the result, I saw my team better than yesterday against Cuba. In the second set, particularly the inexperience of the setter cost us the victory when we were not able to score the key points.

I felt quite disappointed because when the team reached the twenties they had a 4-point lead and instead of assuring to win the set their playing drooped off. Even I had to ask for two time-outs.”

Brandon, captain of Trinidad and Tobago, commented that “yesterday we evaluated the match against Cubans and today we came out really willing to score a win. I think we started well in comparison to the previous match, but unfortunately we lost a great chance to win that set.”