Bari, Italy, October 5, 2014 – Japan beat Dominican Republic 3-2 here on Sunday for a consolation win before leaving the 2014 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship.Desptie the victory, the Japanese women failed to qualify for the third phase in Milan while Dominican Republic will make their first appearance in the World Championship Final Six.Key points:· Bethania De La Cruz was the top scorer of the match with 25 points. Takada Arisa led Japan with 20 points.· Japan have now won both their encounters with Dominican Republic at World Championship. In 1998, Japan beat Dominican Republic in straight sets in the second group stage. · Dominican Republic have played six tie-breaks in nine matches in this World Championship, wnning four of them.· All Japanese players played in the third set.
Japan had a good start. They went ahead at 4-1 and improved the lead at 9-3. Sakoda Saori scored an attack at 20-15 and a block-out of Takada Arisa closed the opener at 25-21.
The second set began in the same fashion. Hinotori Japan were ahead at 6-3. They improved the gap at the second TTO at 16-12 but Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez tied the score at 20-20. Yamagichi Mai put the last point at 25-23.
The Queens of the Caribbean tried to recover in the third set. They went ahead at 7-3, forcing Manabe Masayoshi to call a timeout. A block of Norberto Fersona (21-15) helped her team to win the set that was ended due to an error made by Nagaoka Miyu (25-21).
Thanks to an ace of Takada, Japan enlarged the lead at 8-4 but the Dominicans surpassed the opponents at the second TTO at 16-15. After a good break, they had a three-points advantage at 19-16, but when Ono Kana served, Japan went ahead again at 21-20. But an attack error put the match to the tiebreak at 25-23.
Kwiek's women began in a strong fashion in the fifth set at 5-2, but Sakoda Saori overcame the Americans at 10-7. Sakoda gave her team the victory at 15-12.