Bethania de La Cruz sparked Dominican Republic with a match-high 24 points and Gina Mambru Casilla added 16 points. Puerto Rico was paced by Karina Ocasio’s 20 points and Stephanie Enright contributed 13 in the loss.
Dominican Republic won the battle at the net with a 13-7 block advantage, along with a 61-53 margin in kills. Puerto Rico scored a 5-1 advantage in aces.
Dominican Republic Coach Marcos Kwiek: “We’re very happy with making it to the final. That’s what we came here to accomplish. Although we made some errors, we will have enough time to prepare for tomorrow’s match.”
Puerto Rico Coach Jose Mieles: “We always have tough matches against Dominican Republic. It seems like we have yearly battles. Our team did what it was supposed to do, although I’m not 100 percent satisfied. We didn’t get the victory. It was still a good performance.”
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