Women’s volleyball team, bronze at Panam Junior Asunción

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay. The Dominican Republic team won the bronze medal by defeating Argentina 3 sets to 1 in a disputed match of the women’s volleyball tournament held this Friday at the COP Arena court in this city as part of the II Junior Pan American Games.

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The Creole representation played with the heart to prevail with partials 25-17, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-19 against an Argentinian team that also wanted the bronze medal of the volleyball of the multi-sport event. “This medal tastes like gold, it was very hard-worked and we hope to keep working hard to reach the top,” said Katielle Alonzo at the end of the match. With the bronze medal in volleyball, the Dominican Republic won its second medal in the II Junior Pan American Games, after the silver medal of judo José Brache Jarquín in the +100 kilos category. The winners’ attack was led by the stellar Katielle Alonzo, with 20 points, and Alondra Tapia, with 18 points, while the center, Florangel Terrero, added nine units and excelled with effective blocks at important moments. “A very tough moment, a hard-fought game, but everything came out in the game and we were able to take the victory. Focus and following the coach’s instructions were key to achieving victory,” said player Crismeily Paniagua. In the lost cause, Paula Tomasa scored 24 points, but could not avoid the defeat, while Keila Llanos contributed 10 points and Gisela Otamendi finished with 15 units. In the game statistics, Argentina dominated the attack 49-42, while the Dominican team dominated the block 14-8 and Argentina the service 10-5. The first two partials were dominated by the girls from the Dominican Republic with good spikes from Katielle Alonzo, Alondra Tapia and good blocks from Terrero and Puente. Dominican libero Kirssy Fernández performed a splendid defensive work that was important for the victory. In the third games, the Argentinian volleyball players got a second wind and won it 25-21, with a good offensive performance by Tomasa, Llanos and Otamendi, who punished the opposing defense. The game became very close in the four quarters, where the scoreboard changed hands on several occasions.

In the fourth set, Argentina took the lead early in the score 7-5, however, a violent attack by Katielle Alonzo put the Dominicans ahead with powerful spikes. The bronze medalists managed to make a 6-0 rally to take the scoreboard from 13-11 to 18-11, with spikes from Alonzo and Tapia, as well as blocks from Terrero and Puente, which took the air out of the Argentinians, who tried the game, but the Creoles resisted the attack and won 25-19.