Bethania De La Cruz was one of the leading players of her team
Olomouc, Czech Republic, June 10, 2016 - Dominican Republic Bethania De La Cruz admits it was team's focus at the end of each set that allowed the team to defeat Bulgaria 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-23) in the opening match of World Grand Prix weekend in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek: It was very important for us to win three points in this match, because we want to get to the Final Four this year. We knew it won't be an easy match today, but we must now continue to work, turn the page and think about Canada tomorrow.
Bulgaria coach Ivan Dimitrov: We have lost today due to two reasons. We have been travelling for the past two weeks and only just return from Argentina. The temperature difference caused a cold among some of my players and so we have to deal with health issues at the moment. The second reason was our lack of concentration, we couldn't keep it during the firs and the second set.
Dominican Republic captain Bethania De La Cruz: We were very well prepared for this game, as we played Bulgaria last weekend. We kept our focus and managed our emotions at the end of the sets and that allowed us to win today.
Bulgaria captain Eva Yaneva: We couldn't react to their powerful attack. They played definitely better than last week in Argentina. We lost so many easy plays in defence. We managed to respond in the last set, but it was't enough to turn the score into our favour.