Caribbean Queens Begin Nations League with Defeat Against Turkey
Santo Domingo – The Dominican Republic’s women’s volleyball team, known as Las Reinas del Caribe (The Caribbean Queens), suffered a defeat in their first match of the second phase of the Nations League. The team fell to Turkey, currently number one in the world, in three consecutive sets.
The match ended with scores of 27-25, 25-19, and 28-26. Although the Dominican team showed resistance in the first and third sets, they couldn’t maintain the offensive pace of the home team.
Gaila González was the most outstanding player of the match for the Dominican Republic, leading the offense with 17 points in 35 attempts, with 40% effectiveness. She was also the top scorer of the match. Brayelin Martínez contributed 9 points and Jineiry Martínez, 5.
Hande Baladin led the Turkish attack with 14 points.
Under the direction of Brazilian coach Marcos Kwiek, the Dominican Republic now has a 2-3 record in the tournament, with previous victories against Serbia and the Netherlands. In this phase, the team will face Belgium (June 19), Brazil (21) and South Korea (22).
The regular stage will end in July in Arlington, Texas, where Las Reinas del Caribe will face China (9), the United States (10), Thailand (11), and Germany (13) in their last chance to qualify for the final phase.
So far, the Dominican Republic has not managed to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, in which 18 teams compete for a total prize of 3.5 million dollars, including one million for the champion and half a million for the runner-up.
The final phase of the tournament, organized by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), will take place in Poland from July 23 to 24, where the eight best teams in the general classification will compete.
