PONCE, Puerto Rico, May 18, 2024. – The Dominican Republic will face Costa Rica for fifth place at the Boys U19 NORCECA Continental Championship after defeating Suriname 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-18).
The Dominican Republic and Costa Rica will meet for the second time in the tournament; in pool-play Costa Rica won 3-1. Suriname will face Guatemala for positions seven and eight.
After a shaky start for the Dominican Republic, trailing by five points (6-11), they managed to recover with their attack, finishing with a significant advantage of 49-23.
The Dominicans also led in blocking 8-6, but Suriname was more effective in serving 4-3 and committed fewer errors 6-11.
The top scorer for Dominican Republic was their captain Melvin De Jesus with a match-high of 25 points on 18 attacks, a match-high of 5 blocks, and two aces. Opposite Malik Britton scored 16 points, all on kills, and outside hitter Ramón De Jesus added 12 points, also on kills.
Middle blocker Jahmit Jambo was the top scorer for Suriname with 9 points.
Melvin De Jesus, captain of the Dominican Republic: “We entered with too much confidence, and that complicated the first set for us. We started to develop our game to improve, and things turned out well. Our defense and strong blocking were what helped us win. Tomorrow, we face Costa Rica again, and we are going for revenge; we will fight hard. We need our blocking to work.”
Jahmit Jambo, top scorer of Suriname: “In the first set we had the motivation to play, but in the other sets we lacked energy. We tried to pull through and keep the players hype, but it didn’t work for us. Tomorrow, we need a fighting spirit to win, and also, we need the pass and block to be better”.
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