ALAJUELA, Costa Rica, July 24, 2025.– Dominican Republic closed the group stage with a 3-0 win (25-18, 25-17, 29-27) over Mexico, securing a spot in the quarterfinals as the second-place team in Pool A of the U21 Women’s Pan American Cup, held at the Jorge Luis Solera Gymnasium of the Monserrat Sports Complex in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
Throughout the match, the Dominican squad focused on building a strong offense, scoring nearly 50% of their total points through net dominance. Mexico was unable to read the Caribbean team’s attack.
Dominican Republic outperformed Mexico in attacks (42-25) and blocks (10-6), while both teams were tied with 5 aces each.
Shantal Rivera led the way for the Dominican Republic with 21 points (16 attacks, 2 blocks, and 3 aces). Team captain Victoria Firpo contributed 11 points (7 attacks and 4 blocks). For Mexico, Mariana del Rocío Hernández was the top scorer with 9 points.
With the win, the Dominican Republic advances to the quarterfinals to face Canada this Friday, July 25, at 5:00 p.m. (local time). The other quarterfinal match will feature Mexico, third in Pool A, taking on Chile, second in Pool B, at 7:00 p.m. (local time).
Dominican captain Victoria Firpo said, “I’m really happy. We need to put in more effort in the next match and play a little more calmly because today we ended the match feeling very anxious.”
Mexican captain Sofía Padrón commented, “Honestly, I’m not satisfied because we didn’t get the result we wanted. But what I did like about the team is that we fought until the end. Now we must keep pushing to get better results moving forward.”
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