Tables turned. From zero to soaring confidence, the Dominican Republic showed on Saturday that it is no pushover.
The Caribbean side pulled off its breakthrough victory in the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Nations League in dramatic fashion, stunning erstwhile unbeaten Japan at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
After opening the tournament with six straight losses, the Dominican Republic finally broke through—and head coach Marcos Kwiek believes the win is the product of their steady work despite setbacks.
“I just told them that we have to respect our process. We played not perfect because we played against a very good team, but we played really well. It’s just the conclusion of what we have been working out the past days,” said Kwiek through an interpreter, their setter Niverka Marte.
The Dominican Republic capitalized on an uncharacteristically error-prone Japan side to complete the upset.
Dominican Republic leaned on a balanced attack, with Flormarie Heredia leading the way with 17 points off 16 attacks and one block.
Jineiry Martinez and Yonkaira Peña added 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Alondra Tapia and Geraldine Gonzalez also reached double figures with 11 points each.
“I mean, it was all about the mentality, like I say, we come from a really hard place, we lost a lot of games. I think we all put our focus in our minds to change the game, and that’s what we did,” Heredia said after the massive upset.
The Dominican Republic will try to close out the Pasig leg on a high note when it faces Czechia on Sunday.
For Marte, the win over Japan could serve as the turning point the team needed to finally build momentum.
“I think the confidence is really high because we didn’t beat just any team; it’s Japan. They played really well, so I’m very happy with my team because everybody did what they had to do today,” said the playmaker.
