VNL champions beat Dominican Republic in the first women’s match of the
Olympics
PARIS, France, July 28, 2024.- Italy showed the strong game that took
them to win gold at the Volleyball Nations League 2024 and to the top of
the FIVB
World Rankings in their debut at the Paris
2024 Olympics and had no trouble beating the Dominican
Republic 3-1 (25-19, 24-26 25-21, 25-18) on Sunday, in the first match
of the women’s volleyball tournament.
Playing in front of a packed South Paris Arena 1 in the morning session,
the Europeans got a head start in Pool C, collecting all three points in
their first match in the tournament while also adding to their new World
Rankings total of 398.88 points. Ready to look for their first points at
the Paris 2024 Games in their next match, the Dominicans dropped just
0.7 World Ranking points and continue in 11th place.
After scoring just four points in the first set, Italian star
opposite Paola Egonu found her rhythm during the match and left the
court as the match's top scorer, with 25 points (21 kills, three aces,
one block). Team captain Anna Danesi and outside hitter Myriam
Sylla were also productive, with 11 and ten points, respectively.
Dominican opposite Gaila Gonzalez had an exciting scoring battle with
Egonu and led her team with 21 points (20 kills, one block). Outside
hitter Yonkaira Peña and middle blocker Jineiry Martinez also got to
double digits with 12-point performances at the South Paris Arena 1.
"I thought that we played a good match, but we struggled to keep our
rhythm and made way too many errors," Gonzalez reacted. "This is
something we'll need to change to get the wins we need in the upcoming
matches, even though we did a great job to win the second set coming
from behind. But Italy are a very strong team, we managed to take a set
from them and could have even pushed the match to the tie-breaker, so
that gives us confidence and we hope to build from it."
The highest number of errors made by the Dominicans (38 to 18) proved
too much as there was balance in the other scoring skills, with the
Europeans leading in aces (five to three) and the Caribbean being more
productive in blocks (13 to nine) and kills (50 to 47).
Displaying an efficient game at the net and making strong plays on
defense, Italy took control of the first set, building an 8-5 lead with
a big swing by Egonu. The Dominicans made a push, but the Italians were
able to keep their rhythm and improved their advantage to 16-12 with a
stop at the net. An ace by substitute Ekaterina Antropova sealed the
25-19 Italian victory in the set.
The second set had a similar start, with Italy in control, and an ace
from captain Danesi got them a 5-2 early lead. A trickle ace by Brayelin
Martinez leveled the score at 11 points, but Italy went on a three-point
run to put things back where they were. In the final of the set, the
Dominicans made a strong push, with Gonzalez scoring at an excellent
rate, and counted on an offensive error by Egonu to take the set 26-24
and tie the match.
The Dominicans kept their good rhythm to start the third set and quickly
got a two-point separation at 7-5. Italy found their best game and
gained ground, taking control of the set at 15-13, with an ace by Egonu.
Remaining ahead until the end, the Europeans triumphed 25-21 in the
third set thanks to a powerful swing by their opposite.
Egonu continued on fire in the fourth set and served an ace to give
Italy an early 6-2 lead. Another ace, this one from substitute Gaia
Giovannini, increased their advantage to seven points at 10-3. The
Dominicans kept fighting, but even subbing some starters off, Italy
continued in control and confirmed their 25-18 win with a block by Sarah
Fahr.
Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results
Following their debut, Dominicans will have four days until their next
match in Paris as they will get back on the court on Thursday when they
play Türkiye at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT). |