Dominicans to the final for second year in a row

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 18, 2014 – Dominican Republic advanced to the gold medal match of the XIII Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup after dispatching Argentina in straight sets (25-21, 25-18, 26-24) in their semifinal match at Juan de la Barrera Gymnasium on Wednesday.

The winners dominated in attacks (40-30) and held a slight margin in blocks (12-10) with both teams scoring three aces apiece.

Bethania De la Cruz and Gina Mambru each produced 14 points to pace the Dominican offense. Marianne Fersola added 10, including a match-high six blocks, and Yonkaira Peña added nine in the victory.

Emilce Sosa was the only player of Argentina who reached double figures in the scoring charts. Tanya Acosta had 8 in the loss.

“We have been playing at a good level for the past three matches,” Dominican Republic’s Coach Marcos Kwiek stated. “Today we missed some attacks but that’s our strongest point. I am glad with our serve and block game and the job done by our two middle blockers (Marianne Fersola and Candida Arias).

“We accomplished another goal by advancing to the final match for second year in a row and we will be ready to play,” Kwiek added.

Guillermo Orduna, Coach of Argentina: “We must learn to play against teams of these characteristics. We played well for moments and I don’t agree with some calls by the referees after we took the lead in the third. But I am satisfied because we played very equalized against one great team.”