Bethania De La Cruz scored 16 points against Azerbaijan.
Bari, Italy, October 2, 2014 – Dominican Republic rallied past Azerbaijan 3-1 (23-25, 25-11, 25-21, 25-17) here Thursday afternoon to remain unbeaten at the 2014 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship.Having collected seven wins in a row connecting the first and second stage, Dominican Republic kept alive their chance of reaching the top six for the first time in history.Key Points:· In a matchup of the two best scorers of this World Championship, Polina Rahimova notched up game high 26 points for Azerbaijan while Bethania De La Cruz finished with 16 for Dominican Republic.· These nations have met once before at a World Championship, in 2006, at Saporro, Azerbaijan won 3-1.· Dominican Republic have won all five World Championship matches against European teams.· Domincan Republic reaped 33 points from opponent errors, compared to 20 for Azerbaijan.
Dominican Republic started ahead at 3-1 thanks to a block on Rahimova. But the same Caucasian, that played as opposite spike, put three consecutive points to overtake the lead at 7-5. The Dominicans scored 3 points in a row to force coach Aleksandr Chervyakov call a time-out at 12-11. Azerbaijan tried to pull away many times, but Dominican Republic fought hard to stay in contention. Finally Rahimova gave her team the opener (25-23) with a kill.
In the second set, Dominican Republic entered with great determination as they raced to an amazing 11-2 lead. Brens Rivera and Norberto Fersola produced the maximum advantage (22-8) for Dominican Republic and Rivera closed it at 25-11.
Azerbaijan came up at 7-4. After a timeout called by Chervyakov (12-9), they improved the lead at the second TTO (16-12) and with a block against Rivera (19-14). Rahimova brought Azerbaijan to 21-20, but Kwiek's team won the set at 25-21.
In the fourth set, the Caucasians started in a strong fashion (4-1) but Cruz tied the score at 5-5 with a pipe. The Dominicans led after the second TTO at 17-11 thanks to Mambru's services. Rahimova spiked out and the Dominicans won the match at 25-17.