Dominicans react against Argentineans to conquer bronze medal

HAVANA, Cuba, April 2, 2017–Dominican Republic reacted against Argentina to win 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-23) and conquer the bronze medal of the VI Pan American U18 Girls’ Cup which will be closed tonight at the Sports City Coliseum.

A well distributed attack and effective blocking led the NORCECA continental champions to a triumph conducted by Madeline Guillen (24), Yaneirys Rodriguez (13) and followed by the teammates Geraldine Gonzalez and Erika Asencio with 12 points apiece.

For Argentina, Candela Salinas (15) and Sofia Meinardi ((13) were top-scorers of the South American team who had come, as well as the Dominicans, to this tournament already qualified as Hosts to the World Championship in August in Rosario.

Vachino’s pupils led its Pool A after winning over Chile (3-1) and Puerto Rico (3-0), and as the second best pool winner also earned direct pass to semifinals where they were defeated by Cuba (3-2).

On the other hand, Dominicans were the Pool C winners as a result of their victories over Uruguay (3-0), Guatemala (3-0) and Mexico (3-1); but, in semifinals, they were surprisingly defeated by Colombians in five sets.  

Alexandre Ceccato, Brazilian coach of Dominican Republic: “We lost, last night because of an injury, our opposite player, Yanlis Feliz, one of the event best hitters, and I did not have any substitute for her. We tried to find a solution in the first set. Nevertheless we got to organize our game playing well against Argentina; something which is quite difficult as they make few errors.”

“The important thing is to play and prepare well for the world championship where we expect to include among the Top-8 to improve our performance in the previous championship when it was not good.”

Estanislao Vachino, Argentinean coach: “Like all the Pan American Cups, this one was a great event and as it has happened twice in Cuba, its organization has been spectacular. My team’s performance good up to the first half of the second set. Maybe because of the tiredness they hesitated on the court. Nevertheless we are satisfied in general. From now on we must continue working as the major event is waiting for us.”

Yaneirys Rodriguez, Dominican captain: “We are quite happy with the bronze medal which is tasted as gold. We played with our hearts on our injured teammate. We have succeeded, but we have to praise the Argentineans are really good. I encourage them to keep on because they will have many more opportunities.”

Candela Salinas, an Argentinean wing spiker: “We should have closed better the sets, but we lost a little our concentration in the match.  As a result the Dominicans came from behind and we could not reverse the game. Nevertheless this tournament has taught us we are called to continue improving.”