Dominican Republic and Cuba to semi finals in Colombia

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 18, 2006.- Dominican Republic and Cuba, winners of their respective pools with 3-0 records, qualified directly to the semi finals of the women’s volleyball tournament at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games.

The Dominicans advanced in Pool B with a comfortable win over Barbados by score of 25-8, 25-11, 25-13, while Cuba won Pool A, in defeating Mexico in straight sets by 25-23, 25-17, 25-11.

Annerys Vargas and Cindy Rondon had 14 and 10 points respectively and Bethania de la Cruz added 8 tallies for the Dominican side. Yumilka Ruiz led the balanced Cuban offense with 9 points, Daimi Ramirez added 7, and Yanelis Santos, Liana Mesa and Zoila Barros had 6 apiece.

Dominican coach Miguel Beato Cruz rested most of the starting players and said that “the level of our game has been growing up, but from now on we need to improve our concentration.”

Felipe Calderon, the Cuban coach, said that “now we will watch the development of the next phase and adjust our strategy depending of the next opponent. But our girls will be ready.”

Puerto Rico (2-1) qualified in second place in Pool A moving to the quarterfinals with victory over Costa Rica by score of 25-22, 25-23, 25-21.

Aury Cruz led Puerto Rico with 14 points and Karina Ocasio and Shannon Torregrosa each had 10 points. Verania Willis was the best for Costa Rica with 16 points and Angela Willis and Onicka Pinnock each scored 8 points.

In the nightcap, Venezuela beat Colombia in straight sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) qualifying in second place of Pool B. Veronica Gomez had 13 points for Venezuela and Jessica Angulo scored 10 for Colombia.

“I needed to give a rest to some players and the coming matches are very tough,” said Juan Carlos Cruz, the Puerto Rican coach. “We came here after a medal and the girls are prepared to attain that goal.”

Venezuela will meet Mexico and Puerto Rico will play Colombia in the quarter finals on Wednesday. Barbados and Costa Rica both finished the preliminary round with 0-3 records and will face each other in the match for the seventh place.

Pool A: Cuba (3-0), Puerto Rico (2-1), Mexico (1-2), Costa Rica (0-3). Pool B: Dominican Republic (3-0), Venezuela (2-1), Colombia (1-2), Barbados (0-3).