Dominicans finish World Cup with hot streak

OSAKA, Japan, September 29, 2019 – The Dominican Republic finished the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup with three victories in a row including a resonant triumph over current world champion and Olympic silver medalist Serbia 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17) at Maruzen Intec Arena Osaka on Sunday.

The Serbians, current European title holders and runner-ups of the previous edition of the World Cup, couldn’t solve the Dominican tandem of Bethania de la Cruz and Brayelin Martínez, who posted 21 and 20 points, respectively. De la Cruz’s output included four aces and three blocks.

Ana Bjelica, the leading scorer of the event with a total of 209 points, was the best for Serbia with 19, followed by Mina Popovic with 15.

The Dominicans held a 17-11 advantage in blocks and 7-2 in aces. Each team committed 17 errors and the winners got the edge in attacks 56-55.

Serbia had won the previous four matches against the Dominican Republic in FIVB competitions, with the Caribbean team winning only one set in those encounters.

"I am happy and satisfied with our win today, and also with the way we won. Everyone kept their concentration well in this match. It was only in the third set where we were short of attention but in the end it was good that we won,” Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek said. “I'm grateful to all the players, all our players did well. We did not a have a good start to the competition, but I'm glad we ended on a good note."

On January's Olympic qualifiers: 

"We have about three months until this competition in January. And it's important for us to keep the current form of the team. We are now in good condition, and it's important to keep that. This upcoming competition will be very important for us, we will be scrambling for one remaining ticket that we want to get, and we will make every effort to that end," Kwiek said.