Mexico imposed their strategy against Dominican Republic at CACG

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, July 28, 2018. - Mexico imposed their strategy over defending champion Dominican Republic 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-13) in pool A of the men’s volleyball tournament at the 2018 Barranquilla XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games in Humberto Perea Coliseum.

Mexico’s well placed serves and structured blocking recovered from a 15-19 deficit to win a thrilling first set; from there on, Mexico’s tactics worked better only to improve. Dominicans slowed down, finishing empty handed.

Mexico held 40-30 advantage in spikes, 8-4 in blocks and 5-3 in aces. Mexico committed fewer unforced errors (20-23).

The winners had a balance offense with wing spiker Gonzalo Ruiz scoring 11 points, while opposite Daniel Vargas, wing spiker Jorge Barajas and middle blocker Jonathan Martinez collected 9 points apiece. Opposite Jose Caceres of Dominican Republic scored a match-high of 13 points and wing spiker Elvis Contreras scored 10 points.

On day two, Mexico faces (1-0) Cuba (0-1) and Dominican Republic (0-1) plays to Venezuela (0-1).

“It was a first complicated set, we knew Dominican Republic was going to start strong” said Mexican captain Pedro Rangel. “We improved our rhythm patiently, we were cautious because Dominicans beat us the last time we met. We weren’t desperate, we played calmly, and slowly we dominated in serves to finish on top. We controlled set three and we hope to have that same rhythm for our next matches”. 

Head coach Jorge Azair of Mexico said Dominican Republic started off serving really strong “it took us time to stabilize our reception to respond to their tough serves, adding that our blocking wasn’t working (in position 2) and that way we won more balls to counterattack. From there forward, our serves were more aggressive to benefit from taking Dominicans off balance. My team gained more confidence, I liked set three, and we were organized”.  

Venezuelan José Gutiérrez, head coach for Dominican Republic expressed “our attacks were weaker in sets two and three; at this tournament level we should have our attacks up by 50%, otherwise we won’t have any chances. Our pool composition is complicated, I considered it with the toughest teams and anything could happen, today we lost and tomorrow our opponent. Our performance in the first two sets was organized tactically speaking; with time they will adjust to this system”.