Dominican Republic defeats Serbia by 3-2: FIVB World Cup - Volleyball
The FIVB World Cup being hosted by Japan saw a match between the Dominican Republic and Serbia on November 16 in Tokyo. The five set match in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium eneded with the Dominican Republic winning at 3-2.
The first set of the match did not go well for the Dominican Republic as they seemed to be getting into form as a result of which the Serbians were able to smother their rivals in the opening set. The loss of the first set caused the Dominican Republic to
step up their game in the second set but their effort seemed half hearted and they could not equalise the match.
The Dominican Republic started off the third set as a rejuvenated team and fought hard till the very end to avoid a clean sweep and give themselves a winning chance in the game. Securing the third set got the Dominican Republic swinging into motion and they
were able to dominate the courts in the fourth set as well which resulted in the match being taken to a decisive fifth set. The final set of the game saw sparks flying from both the teams but the match ended in favour of the Dominican Republic who was able
to seal the deal at the following final set scores: 14-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 15-12.
Marcos Kwiek, who provides his coaching services to the Dominican Republic, shared his feelings in the following manner after his team had won a comeback match: “We’re really happy with this win and I think we have been able to achieve our objective, which
is to gain points. The level we started with was not great, but then we aggressively went after the points and we served better, which is one of our main strengths. We got some good reception from our team and the players started playing better.”
On the other hand, the coach of the losing team, Zoran Terzic, gave the following statements: “First I want to congratulate the Dominican team. They played really well. If a team wants to play well and win, they must respect every point and especially the
opposing team.”
Despite the fact that they lost the match, the Serbians were able to play better on the defensive side as they scored 17 points on blocks whereas the Dominican Republic made only nine points on the defence side. However, the Dominican Republic was better
in terms of service aces as they pulled off 11 of them while the Serbians only tallied five points from aces.
The top scorer was Dominican Republic’s Bethania De La Cruz with 18 points in all.
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