PONCE, Puerto Rico, June 15th, 2024.- Puerto Rico swept Dominican Republic and is still undefeated in NORCECA Men’s Final Four at Salvador Dijols Coliseum in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico beat the Dominicans with scores 25-20, 30-28, 25-20.
Puerto Rico holds a 2-0 record in this event while Dominican Republic has one win and one loss.
Puerto Rico had a good start on the first set leading by three points, but Dominican Republic bounced back and tied the set 12-12. Dominican Republic committed consecutive errors and the Puerto Ricans won the set 25-20. It was a nail-biting battle on the second set, where both teams fought point by point and Puerto Rico won in extra points 30-28. Dominican Republic came focused on the third set leading by up to two points, but Puerto Rico fought back to tight the set 17-17 and trusting in their attacks where able to close the set 25-20.
Puerto Rico secured a straight-set victory and will play for first place tomorrow vs Mexico. Dominican Republic will play vs Guatemala looking for the second place.
Puerto Rico led in attacks 47-45, blocks 9-5 and serves 4-2 and committed less errors than the Dominicans 19-20.
Puerto Rico’s top scorer was opposite Klistan Lawrence with 16 points (14 attacks and 2 blocks) and outside hitter Pedro Molina with 14 points (14 attacks). For Dominican Republic the best scorer was captain and opposite Henry Tapia with 19 points (18 attacks and an ace).
Setter of Puerto Rico – Kevin Joel Rodríguez: We knew it was a team we had to play hard all the time. We prepared for this, and I think we had a good game together. We stayed patient and followed the game plan. At first, we failed a little, but we maintained the serves and that’s what worked for us. Now what we must do is rest, tomorrow we will watch videos, prepare, have a good practice and come focused on giving a good show to our audience.
Dominican Republic Setter – Francisco Arredondo: Puerto Rico had a better game and better distribution of the serve that hurt us, and we couldn’t close on the counterattacks, which I think was what affected us the most in being able to close the sets. We should have been more decisive and finished the points on the counterattack, we had many opportunities to score the points, but we could not finish with our attacks. We know that Guatemala gives its best in every match, but I think that if we focus and correct today’s mistakes, we can come out victorious tomorrow.
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