The Reinas del Caribe, the senior women’s volleyball team of the Dominican Republic, swept away any hope of Mexico in three consecutive sets and grabbed its fifth gold medal in the Women’s Pan American Volleyball Cup history. The Dominican team defeated Mexico 25-15, 25-21, 25-14 during the final on Sunday, 19 September 2021. Mexico had become the surprise team of the tournament when it defeated the United States in the semifinals. Team USA was the defending champion, and had previously won the Pan Am Cup 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions.
In the 19th edition, the Dominican Republic won gold, Mexico silver, USA won bronze. Canada came in 4th followed by Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Dominican team won each of the 21 sets it played. The Dominicans joined the 2005 Cuban team as the only ones in history to have finished undefeated in a cup without losing a single set.
The tournament took place at the Ricardo (Gioriver) Arias Volleyball Pavilion with the six teams belonging to the Central Zone of Norceca. The pavilion was full of mask-wearing fans that cheered the home team on.
With their first and second place wins, the DR and Mexico qualified to play in the Chile Pan American Games volleyball tournament.
Marcos Kwiek, Dominican Republic coach: “I am very happy with this victory after a year without playing with this crowd. We are not free from the pandemic yet but at least we can enjoy it and that they can see the girls on the field. We had the game under control all the time. It was not something random that was studied so that the game was that way and we demonstrated our value.”
Rafael Petry, coach of Mexico: “It was a very well organized tournament and it served us as an experience. Now what follows is to continue preparing, that the players return to their leagues and come back stronger to the next tournament.”
It was the retirement game for Dominican team captain Prisilla Rivera who shared the most points scored for the Dominicans. Rivera was named MVP of the tournament. A special ceremony took place at the game to honor her retirement from active playing with the team, not so from the sport. The power attacker played 20 years with the Dominican team and is retiring in great form. She will turn 37 on 29 December 2021. It was the second time Rivera had won the MVP award of the Pan Am Cup. Her first time was in 2010 during the 9th cup that took place in Mexico.
During the tournament, Dominican libero Brenda Castillo won the triple crown — best libero, best defender, best receiver.
Follow the story:
Reinas del Caribe
Norceca
Norceca
Listin Diario
Hoy
Diario Libre
20 September 2021