Dominican Republic trounces Canada, advance to final match

TIJUANA, Mexico, May 4, 2012 – The world-ranked No. 9 Dominican Republic advanced to the final-match of the NORCECA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament following an easy 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-15) victory over No. 22 Canada on Friday.

The Dominican side will clash with three-time Olympic champions and currently No. 10 Cuba in the match for a ticket to the volleyball tournament of the 2012 London Olympic Games on Saturday.

The Dominicans dominated the whole match and topped the taller Canadians in blocks 8-1 and had the slight edge in serves 3-2. The winners made 15 errors to 18 by the defeated team.

Bethania De La Cruz led four Dominican players who finished the match in double digits in the score sheets with 14 points, all via attacks.

Veteran Annerys Vargas and the young Lisvel Eve, the team’s middle blockers, each finished with 12 points and 5 and 3 blocks respectively. Gina Mambru tallied 11 points including the last point to seal the victory. Canada’s Sarah Pavan recorded 12 points.

“We did what we were instructed to,” Dominican Republic’s Milagros Cabral said. “We followed our game plan and the objective was to keep focused every second of the match. And we really did it.”

“It was a well executed game by Dominican Republic,” Canada’s Tammy Mahon explained. “They played a great match and I feel a little disappointed. I hope we can come back and finish the tournament playing a good match.”

“It has been our best match of the tournament,” Dominican Republic’s Coach Marcos Kwiek said. “Our relation of block and defense worked almost perfect and we served very well also.”

“Tomorrow’s match against Cuba is a tough one and even though we have players with more experience, that’s a match you have to play also with your heart,” Kwiek added.

“We tried to make some adjustments but they had answers for everything,” Canada’s Arnd Ludwig said. “They didn’t let us to play.”