Puerto Rico beats Dominican Republic in tough match

GATINEAU, Canada, June 14, 2011 – Puerto Rico rebounded from its opening day loss to Canada on Tuesday to defeat the Dominican Republic 25-27, 25-23, 28-26, 25-17 on Tuesday at the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament.

‘’I feel like our offensive tempo was a lot better than yesterday,’’ said Puerto Rico’s captain Edgardo Goas.  ‘’We kept them off balance with our serve as well.’’

Ulises Maldonado of Puerto Rico led all scorers with 21 points while Ricardo Archilla added 17 and Ezequiel Cruz 15. Pedro Luis Garcia was the top scorer for the Dominican, which was playing its first game, with 17 points while Elnis Palomino added 13.

‘’We gained some experience from the match against Canada,’’ said Puerto Rico’s head coach Ariel Diaz.  ‘’This victory is important for us because it gives our young guys some confidence.’’

‘’It was our first match and we weren’t able to keep our rhythm,’’ said Tolinson Aquino, captain of the Dominican Republic.  ‘’We made mistakes on easy plays and struggled with our serve.’’

‘’Puerto Rico has a very young team but they increased the pace to recover,’’ added Jacinto Campechano head coach of the Dominican Republic.  ‘’We had poor reception and our block was not our best.’’