Classy Castillo leads Dominican Republic to first win

Tokyo, Japan, May 20, 2016 – A world-class performance by Libero Brenda Castillo has helped Dominican Republic to a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-12, 25-20) win over Kazakhstan, its first win of the tournament.

Castillo took control of the match in the final set to guide her team to victory in the battle of two winless teams looking for positives to take away from the qualification tournament.

With not much more to play for than pride and maybe a chance to blood some younger players with an eye to Tokyo 2020 it had the potential to be a dour affair.

But it was the Dominican Republic’s 30-year-old Gina Casilla who took control of the match early, finding a way around the Kazakhstan defensive wall to keep her team in touch early, before teenager Brayelin Martinez stepped up to seal the set 25-20 after a tight tussle early.

Martinez and Casilla both finished the opening set with five points apiece, while Kazakhstan had five players with three …

continue reading in source www.fivb.org