Dominican Republic defeated China in a world-level competition for the first time since 2010 and an overall second time in history out of 27 official matches played between the two teams in total. In a Volleyball Nations League 2023 Pool 5 game in Suwon on Friday, the Caribbean Queens celebrated a victory over the mighty opponents. Improving to a 5-6 win-loss record and 12 points, they stand 12th in the current standings, but without a shot at making the Finals. China are sixth on 6-4 and 19 points.
VNL 2023
Gaila and Jineiry on fire as Dominicans stun China
It’s the Caribbean Queens’ only second win over the mighty opponent in history
Published 01:15, 30 Jun 2023
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A day after opposite Gaila Gonzalez and middle blocker Jineiry Martinez led Dominican Republic to a shutout of hosts Korea, their performance against China was even more inspirational. Gonzalez spiked at a 57% success rate, raised three kill blocks and served three aces towards a fantastic 35-point match high. Martinez produced a number of key points towards her team’s success, including the match winner. She hammered four aces and registered an out-of-this-world 81% success rate in attack to tally a total of 22 points. Outside hitter Brayelin Martinez added another 19, while her Chinese counterpart Li Yingying led her team with 24 points.
The Dominican players celebrate
The Dominicans recovered from a five-set deficit to get back to within one halfway through the first set, but after 14-13, China went on a seven-point streak on Wang Yunlu’s serving turn with some great digging and spiking towards a 21-13 breakaway. While Wang put away a couple of aces, Li Yingying owned the net with eight points in attack and one kill block towards a 25-20 win. The Dominicans’ performance vastly improved during the second set. While they were making more mistakes than the opponents, they also outplayed the Asians in attack, in blocking and in serving. After they rushed off to an early 6-2 lead, both sides engaged in long point runs, with the gap ranging from three to seven points. Finally, Jineiry Martinez nailed the last ball through the middle for 25-20 Dominican Republic’s way.
In a very competitive third set, the lead swung from 4-1 in favour of the Dominicans, to 13-11 China’s way and back to 19-15 the Caribbean Queens’ way. After 22-20, the Asians hammered a five-point series, crowned by setter Xu Xiaoting’s ace for 25-22, to put China in front again. Seven points in a row, highlighted by three Jineiry Martinez aces, were the key to the fourth set. They put Dominican Republic at a 14-8 lead and China could no longer recover as their opponents levelled the match after 25-20.
Gaila and Jineiry led the way as the Dominicans battled back from a 5-2 Chinese lead in the tie-breaker and, after 8-8, took control of the scoreboard for good. A blistering off-the-block swing by Jineiry through the middle fixed the final score at 15-13 and got the Dominican celebrations started.
“We work every day. We try to keep fighting in every training, in every match, and we give all on the court,” said Gaila Gonzalez after the game. “We have fun on the court when we do what we know in volleyball and that’s what makes the difference between the sets we win and the sets we don’t. I always try to help my team, I try to give my best and I did it tonight.”
Dominican Republic will open Saturday’s competition programme with a game against reigning world champions Serbia at 10:30 local time (01:30 UTC). China will come out on the court next, at 14:00 (05:00), for a game against hosts Korea.
Maja Ognjenovic, Tijana Boskovic and the rest of their Serbian teammates celebrate the victory over Germany
Earlier on Friday in Suwon, Serbia handed Germany a defeat with Generation O star Tijana Boskovic erupting with 39 points, including four blocks and an ace. Camilla Weitzel and Lina Alsmeier finished with 16 and 14, respectively, for Germany. The world champs improved to 5-5 and 16 points, placed 10th in the standings, while the Germans are fifth on 7-4 and 20.
Earlier in the day, Poland registered their ninth win in 11 matches, a comeback against Bulgaria, to regain the first place in the table on 26 points, two clear of the United States, who have a game in hand. The southern Europeans are 14th on a 2-9 win-loss record and eight points. The two opposites, Poland’s Magdalena Stysiak (five kill blocks) and Bulgaria’s Radostina Marinova (one kill block, one ace) shared the top scorer honours of the match with 19 points each.
USA had temporarily taken over the top of the standings after Thursday’s blowout of Bulgaria, producing as many as 16 kill blocks during the three sets of the match. With that win, the Americans, who already have a guaranteed spot at next month’s Finals in Arlington as tournament hosts, improved to 9-1 and 24 and also secured a top-eight finish in the Preliminary Phase.
