Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 14, 2017 – The Dominican Republic obliterated China 4-0 (15-10, 15-13, 15-3, 15-10) in 51 minutes here on Thursday at Arena Stozice, to gain andvantage in the race for a berth in the semifinals of the 2017 FIVB Women’s 23 World Championship.
China could have gained the second semifinal ticket from Pool A after Slovenia with any win today for full points today. Now, the Dominican Republic need just three sets against Thailand on Friday to join Slovenia in the semis, regardless of what anyone else does.
If the Dominican Republic qualify on Friday, it will be their third Final Four appearance in as many editions of the Women’s U23 World Championship, after a silver medal in 2013 and a bronze in 2015.
All matches in Ljubljana are played under a new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.
The ‘Queens of the Caribbean’ totally outblocked China 9 stuffs to 2 as Gaila Gonzalez scored 16 points, including 4 blocks and a 58% kill efficiency (11/19).
Dominican Republic coach, Wager Pacheco: “Because of this win now we have really good chances to play in the semifinals, but the match against Thailand [on Friday] will still be tough, because they have a really good team. But today my team played with heart. The girls were concentrated and agressive, which is really important.”
Dominican Republic captain, Yokaty Perez: “We were preparing for this match from yesterday, because we know it was very important. We were really concentrated throughout the whole match. China play different volleyball with different system and different rotations. It was difficult for us, but thank God we won.”
China coach, Wu Sheng: “We didn’t have much time for preparation for this tournament and we have a problem with teamwork. Today the main problem was the blocking and this was the key for Dominican Republic to win the match.”
China captain, Chen Long: “We are all very sad because we lost this match, which was really important for us to get qualified fort the semifinals. Like the coach said, today the problem was our block. We didn’t block well and that is the reason we lost.”
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