SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 11, 2005.- The Dominican Republic overcame a two-set deficit and defeated Puerto Rico in a electrifying five-set match, keeping alive its unbeaten record in Pool A at the Pan American Cup. The score was 22-25, 21-25, 27-25. 25-18, 15-13.

Yudelkis Bautista led the Dominicans with 20 points and Cosiris Rodriguez and Annerys Vargas each added 15. For Puerto Rico, Eva Cruz had 14 and Aury Cruz and Shanon Torregrosa each had 13.

In other matches of Pool A, Venezuela defeated Costa Rica 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-20) and Brazil defeated Argentina in four sets (25-20, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22)

“The first two sets were negative due to lack of concentration but with some changes and the support of the fans we came back and overcame all difficulties,” said Francisco Cruz, the coach of Dominican Republic.

Juan Carlos Nunez, the coach of Puerto Rico: “After two losses in five sets never is easy, but we are prepared to keep playing with high expectations the rest of the event.”

Jayce Andrade scored 17 points for Venezuela and Veronica Gomez and Suyika Oropeza chipped in 13 and 12 respectively. For Costa Rica, Verania Willis had 13.

“Our reception today was a lot better than the night before when we lost to the Dominicans,” said Tomas Fernandez, the Venezuelan coach. “This allowed us to organize our attack much better.”

Adenizia Silva led four Brazilian players in double figures with 16 points joined by Thaisa Menezes (13), Michelle Pavao (12) and Fernanda Rodríguez (11). Mirna Ansaldi was the best scorer for Argentina with 15 and Paula Parisi and Antonela Bortolozzi had 13 and 11 respectively.

“We took advantage of the opportunities and our serves proved to be the key of our victory,” said Antonio Rizola, the Brazilian coach. “Our blocking in the fourth set was a consequence of the good serves.”