GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, August 2, 2025.- Dominican Republic defeated Mexico 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20) to qualify for the Men’s U23 Pan American Cup finals, being held at the Domo Polideportivo.
Dominican Republic returns to a final after facing Cuba in 2023, when they earned the silver medal. This year, the Dominicans are back and will face the United States on the last day of competition at 6 PM. Mexico will battle for the bronze medal against Venezuela at 4 PM.
The opening set was evenly matched, with both teams exchanging control until Dominican Republic pulled ahead slightly at point 16. Mexico didn’t back down and came close to tying the set. The second set also started tight; as Mexico gradually pulled away and reached point 18, the Dominicans began to react but couldn’t close the gap.
The third and fourth sets followed a similar pattern with alternating control, but in the final points the Caribbean side pulled ahead to win both sets and the match. Just two days ago, the teams also met in the group stage, where Dominican Republic prevailed in five sets.
Mexico led in attacks (51-39), but Dominican Republic outperformed in blocking (16-8) and serving (5-1).
José Adrián Figueroa of Dominican Republic was the top scorer of the match with 21 points (17 attacks, 4 blocks). Albert Molina and Antonio de Jesús contributed to the win with 12 and 11 points respectively. For Mexico, Ariel Hernández led with 18 points, followed by Leonardo Maldonado with 12.
José Alexander Gutiérrez, head coach of Dominican Republic: “When you have a group of young athletes, there are a lot of ups and downs during the match. I think that’s the toughest part of this category because they are not adults yet, but they aren’t kids either.”
“With the years we’ve been working with this group, they have the drive and desire to excel and achieve big things. Now that we’re in the final, we’ll give everything we have and see what happens,” he concluded.
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