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PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, June 4, 2022 - The
Dominican Republic got its first victory in the
Norceca Challenger Final Four by beating Puerto
Rico in a hard-fought tie-break with scores of
25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 16-14 to start
the second day of this world qualifier at Hall
19 de Noviembre.
The match had many ups-and-downs, but the
Dominicans pressed in blocking at key moments
and tightened to close the sets, mainly in the
fifth against a rival who never gave up,
although it was dominated in the final stages of
the partials in which they succumbed.
Corner player Henry Antonio López was the top
scorer of the duel with 29 points, escorted by
Henry Tapia (20) and Wilfrido Hernández (17).
For the Puerto Ricans, who added two setbacks,
the most productive was striker Pedro Molina
with 24 units, followed by opposite Gregory
Torres (22), cornerback Pelegrín Vargas (17) and
Antonio Elias Rodríguez (10).
Jesús Alexander Gutiérrez, Venezuelan coach of
the Dominican Republic: “For us this is growth
and learning, because those ups and downs are
precisely due to that lack of experience. The
most difficult thing at this level is to
maintain and the work is for that, and this
comes in addition, the positive result of
winning the game, which is great for their
mentality to continue to grow and this is part
of our work and continue to grow for project
ourselves”.
Henry Antonio López, top scorer of the match:
“Team unity was the key to victory, we started
to fight, served, blocked in decisive moments,
that's how we closed the game. In the attacks in
complex one we were literally perfect, although
once in a while they also worked well because of
their offense on serve, but on that basis we
were better. It was a super match, we knew how
to keep up mentally”.
Gerardo de Jesús Sánchez, Coach of Puerto Rico:
“Good game, we had it again, but we have to
learn not to fail when the game is being defined,
we had it there for two days and we didn't
execute when the truth was told and that cost
the game. We have come with a young team, we
have to keep working, because with these rivals
you win and lose, but here they played better
than us after the 20th point”.
Pelegrín Vargas, among the most outstanding: “We
had a long night yesterday and although it is
not an excuse, it would still be a complicated
game winning or losing, we played on a streak
and that consumes a lot of energy trying to come
from behind and overcome two or three points,
one gets more tired and there is a lot of
physical and mental stress. We have to improve,
with the group we have we can continue to
improve, learning from these well-closed results,
in which we could win, it hurts us, but we have
to continue”. |
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