Dominicans win another thriller, USA dramatic third loss

June 6, 2025.- The first week of the Volleyball Nations League 2025 has been intense, but also successful for the Dominican Republic, which secured on Friday their second victory in three matches in the tournament, while the U.S. fell in dramatic five sets to Czechia in their third loss.

Dominican Republic returns to winning ways

One of the six teams competing in Pool 1, in Ottawa, Canada, the Queens of the Caribbean won their second five-setter in three days at The Arena at TD Place, taking the Netherlands down to keep their record positive.

If their opening-match five-set victory over Serbia on Wednesday featured a massive comeback for the Dominicans, their triumph over the Dutch had a different script, with ups and downs from both sides and tremendous back-and-forth before the Caribbeans prevailed 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 28-26, 22-25, 15-13).

With two of their first three matches in Ottawa going to five sets, the Dominicans have played as many as 14 sets so far – before beating Serbia, they lost 3-1 to Bulgaria on Thursday.

Against the Dutch, the Caribbean could rely on their two main scorers as Brayelin Martínez and Gaila González combined for an impressive 51 points – the outside hitter registered 26, with 23 kills, two blocks and one ace, while the opposite produced 25, with 19 kills, three blocks and three aces.

The Dominican team outperformed the Netherlands 10-7 in blocks, and their serve was dominant, delivering 7 aces to the Netherlands' 3.

With this victory, the Dominican Republic climbed to sixth place in the overall standings among the 18 teams competing in the 2025 VNL, with 2 wins and 1 loss for a total of 4 points.

USA Can't Hold the Lead, Suffers Third Consecutive Loss

The United States was unable to maintain their initial 2-0 set lead and ended up losing in five sets (25-23, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 25-27) to the Czechia. The final set was full of emotions—Team USA had a 10-7 lead but ultimately lost 25-27 in a set that was supposed to go to 15 points.

Despite the Czechs committing 31 unforced errors, they were superior at the net (82-66 in attacks) and in service aces (7-2). The USA led in blocks, 13-6.

Sarah Franklin was the top scorer for the U.S. with 20 points (19 attacks, 1 block), Amber Igiede added 18 points (13 attacks, 4 blocks, 1 ace), while Molly McCage and Logan Eggleston also scored in double digits with 11 points each, and Logan Lednicky added 10 points.

This marked the third loss for the United States.

On Saturday, June 7, in Ottawa, only one match will be played: Canada will face Japan at 4:00 PM local time. The Dominican Republic and the United States will have the day off.