Dominicans did not believe in the size of USA

HAVANA, Cuba, August 31, 2018 - A battling Dominican Republic that did not believe in the projections of many in favor of the United States took the victory 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25- 18) in the first semifinal of the day of the Norceca SUB-21 Men's Volleyball Tournament.

The Caribbeans were led by the born and tireless leader, Bayron Valdez, who as a rule always pay a valuable harvest, exceeded today to 31 points and escorted by middle blocker José Dawilin Méndez who added 11, and with the support of the rest of the team that did not allow to escape the dreamed victory against the country that held the crown until this day.

For the Northerners those who reached double digits were John Reilly (17), Jaylen Jasper and Devin Joslyn (13). They were even superior in the statistics with domain in attack (48-47), blockade (8-2) and service (7-6) and benefited by 27 unforced errors, but they gave 42 to the rivals, who never stopped showing their inspirational grip.

José Dante Mañón, technical director of the Dominicans, recalled his opinion that "with a team of levels we play with level, and the opposite when they are of less rank, but the United States plays very good volleyball and we put ourselves up to their stature".

"The game was 3-1, but we could even win the first set, we were in. If tomorrow we face Cuba for gold, it will be a game between the family, which win the best, but we will also fight if the opponent is Canada."

Bayron, the combative captain, expressed his pride for his team, "they played like never before, I had never seen the team like that before, they delivered everything on the field, I was confident because we have been training for a year, so much time together today".

"The coaches and I talked to them, they had to give their hearts even if they killed us with balls and they listened to us, because I recognize that our adversary is a good team, they can even be superior to ours, because of his stature, because they are from the United States they know volleyball, but it always shows that nothing is impossible," he stressed excitedly.

Jonah Carson, DT of the United States, explained that "to have a good team in this tournament you have to play a level for a long time, tonight we had difficulty precisely to maintain that consistency and it was lacking in reception".

"Even if you do not get it right it's hard to defend, and if you add the mistakes and some rivals who play well it's worse, because they keep a constant pressure and have a lot of thought and confidence in their captain (Bayron Valdez), he makes a mistake, nothing happens, they turn to him and he plays well as if he were a bigger player".

The corner Reilly John said that "we knew it was a strong match because they play and defend very well, as well as they are good at finishing the ball."