Dominican Republic evens its record 

MEXICALI, Baja California, June 6, 2006.- The Dominican Republic overcame a slow start and defeated Trinidad & Tobago in straight sets evening its record in the First Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup. After losing to Canada on the opening day, the Dominicans came back and beat the Trinidadians 26-24, 25-16, 25-20 with Elvis Contreras, Jose Caceres and Eury Almonte contributing with 13, 12 and 8 points respectively.

Nolan Tash had 11 points for Trinidad & Tobago (1-2). “We had problems with our reception in the first set,” said Julio Frias, the Dominican coach, “but from the second set on, we definitely improved that part of our game and made some key adjustments.” Gideon Dickson, the coach of Trinidad & Tobago: “This is a new beginning for our team. We are a team under development and we are learning with each match. We can compete with these teams but we need to learn how to close the sets.”

The Dominicans erased a 19-13 deficit to prevail in the first set helped by the combined attack of Contreras and Caceres. Trinidad & Tobago had taken the lead 8-5 with two aces from Sean Morrison and a couple of kills produced by Tash, and were ahead 16-11 with the spikes of Marc Honore.

In the second set, the Dominicans dominated relying on their improved services, scoring five aces, two each by Cristian Cruz and Contreras. The spikes of Caceres combined with the unforced errors by the Trinidadians decided the outcome of the third set.