Puerto Rico defeats Dominican Republic in five in Women World Grand Prix – Volleyball news
The last match of the weekend of the FIVB Women World Grand Prix was held between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on June 17, 2012. The two teams contested each other on the pool play of the tournament that was being staged in the Japanese city of
Komaki. The teams took the competition to five exciting sets at the end of which the Puerto Ricans emerging as victors.
The score board showed the following final set scores: 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 21-25 and 15-12.
The coach of the Puerto Rican team, David Aleman, expressed his joy at the tough win by making the following statements, “As everyone says, games against the Dominican Republic are always hotly contested. It’s often a contest of pride. For our team we want
to use this victory as a springboard to thrive in future international matches.”
On the other hand, the Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kweik, shared his views on the outcome of the match by making the following comments, “Congratulations to the Puerto Ricans on their victory. It was a really gruelling match. As my captain said, we know
them well since we were young and have faced each other many times. This five-set match was tough, but they eventually won.”
The player who was able to score the highest number of points in the competition belonged to the Dominican Republic as Gina Altagracia Mambru Casilla kept the pressure on her rivals by putting up 22 points. On the other hand, the most active player on the
Puerto Rican side was Sarai Alvarez who tallied 21 points in all. Alvarez was helped by her team mate Stephanie Enright who added 20 points of her own.
As soon as the opening set started, the Dominican Republic fell to making errors that helped the Puerto Ricans to propel themselves forward to an early lead at 8-4. The Dominican Republic soon got things under control and was able to make the set reach a
tie at 8-8. Despite the fact that the Dominican Republic were leading at 19-18, the Puerto Ricans managed to pull up ahead and bag the first frame at 25-19.
The second set saw the Dominican Republic leading at 8-5 but their rivals over took them at 9-8. The Dominican Republic did not give up and got the advantage back at 20-16. After that, it was only a matter of time before the Dominican Republic was able to
make the match level by winning the second set at 25-21.
After a tough clash in the third set, the Puerto Ricans succeeded in another win but the Dominican Republic was able to make the match reach a fifth set that was tied at 6-6. The Dominican Republic put up a good fight that challenged their rivals but the
effort came in too late and the set ended in favour of the Puerto Ricans at 15-12.
Tags: