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RENO, USA (Aug. 15, 2015)
– Venezuela earned a spot in the semifinals of the Pan American
Cup with a 23, 17, 20 win over Dominican Republic on Saturday at
the Reno Events Center.
Venezuela (3-1) will play Brazil (3-0) in Sunday’s semifinals
while Dominican Republic (1-3) will play Mexico for fifth-eighth
place.
Dominican Republic struggled to stay focused against a physical
Venezuelan team, even though Venezuela gave up 27 points on
errors while Dominican Republic gave up only 16.
Venezuela led in kills (47-25), blocks (8-7) and aces (4-1).
Venezuela’s hitting efficiency was .333 while Dominican Republic
hit .113.
Venezuela outside hitter Wilner Rivas led all scorers with 20
points on a match-high 17 spikes and three blocks. Kervin
Pinerua added 19 points on 17 spikes, two blocks and one ace.
Luis Adames led Dominican Republic with nine points on eight
spikes and one block.
Venezuela Captain Kervin Penerua
“I am very happy with the win. It’s very important for us to be
in the semifinals. Our goal is to be in the finals and we are
working on that right now.”
Venezuela Coach Vicenzo Nacci
“It was not an easy match. Dominican Republic was very good. But
we studied the team very well. They played a tactically perfect
game. Now we will forget everything because tomorrow’s game is
the big one. We are playing Brazil, so it is going to be a tough
one.”
Dominican Republic Coach Jose Alvarez Cutino
“The players were not in the game today at all. After having
better matches before today, they just did not come to play. I
am very disappointed. Nothing worked today. We did not play like
we should have.”
Dominican Republic Captain Jonathan Mercedes
“We lowered our level of playing today. We had no concentration
in the match. We started slow and it got worse after that.”
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