Dominicans win thrilling match against Netherlands
OSAKA, Japan, September 28, 2019 – The Dominican Republic
faced off against the Netherlands on Saturday at Maruzen
Intec Arena Osaka, having won against Argentina on the
previous day. The Dominicans proved victorious in tie-break
(25-23, 25-22, 25-27, 18-25, 15-4) fending off a resilient
Netherlands squad which fell short in the final period.
It was the first victory of the Dominican Republic over
Netherlands since winning 3-0 their first encounter in the
1974 World Championship. The Europeans had won eleven
matches in a row at world level major tournaments:
Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World
Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand
Champions Cup.
After seeing Netherlands tying the score and forcing a
tie-break, the Dominicans charged batteries and won the
first 10 points of the tie-breaker and never looked back.
Brayelin Martinez once again led the Dominican attack with
26 points, including four blocks, and Bethania de la Cruz
added 17 with three blocks and one ace. Jineiry Martínez and
Lisvel Eve each contributed 10 points.
Lonneke Sloetjes had a match-high 29 points for Netherlands,
while Celeste Plak and Marrit Jasper added 17 and 15,
respectively.
Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek: "I'm more than just
happy - I'm happy because of the way we won. This was a very
hard, tough game. This is the sort of match that shows us
the way forward.