LA PAZ, Baja California, June 10, 2022.- Dominican Republic beat Costa Rica in straight sets 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-18) in a classification match for positions 7-10 at the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup at Arena La Paz in Baja California Sur.
Dominican Republic will play for seventh place against the winner between Canada and Honduras, while Costa Rica plays the loser for ninth place.
The Caribbean team had some complications in the third set but quickly came out to win their first match of the event prevailing with 36-21 margin in attacks, a slim 5-4 margin in blocks and a comfortable 12-3 advantage in serves.
Three Dominicans scored double-figures, led by setter Ariana Rodriguez with 14 points on 9 kills, one block and 4 aces, outside hitter Marcelly Perez scored 12 points on 10 kills and 2 aces, and middle blocker Alanae Margaritha scored 12 points.
Costa Rica’s top scorer was opposite hitter Angelica Rodriguez with 6 points.
Cristian Cruz, Head Coach of Dominican Republic: “We were aware we could win this match, but we are still struggling with confidence from the players. Tomorrow is an important match and today I tried to move our lineup because everyone is necessary to face our opponent, which could be Canada. We used a 6-2 system, using two setters that are also outside hitters, it’s an alternative for tomorrow”.
Henry Rodríguez, Head Coach of Costa Rica: “Against big teams like this one, we try to score the most points we can and try to push them to win the set, without letting our opponent move too much ahead; today we did it in the third set, against the Queens of the Caribbean. We improvised with another player as libero, trying to be ready for our last match that could be against Honduras”.
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