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Belize beats El Salvador to finish sixth at AFECAVOL U23

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, September 22, 2018. - Belize beat El Salvador 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-14, 25-21) to finish sixth place at the fourth Men’s U23 AFECAVOL Central American Championship on Saturday at Teodoro Palacios Flores in Guatemala City.

Both teams finish the event with the same 1-5 win-loss record, but Belize with 6 ranking points and El Salvador with 4 ranking points for sixth and seventh places accordingly.

Belize started with amazing blocking taking down El Salvador in a tough first set.  El Salvador reacted well, with good attitude and taking the lead in set two 10-6; Belize managed to tie at point 12 but falling behind again. Belize stormed past El Salvador in set three with impressive 8 point lead 19-11 and entering set four with the same strength to earn their only victory of the event.

Belize held a 49-43 advantage in spikes, 13-10 in blocks and 4-1 aces, scoring 30 points on El Salvador’s’ unforced errors while committing 28 errors of their own.

Outside hitter Daryl Avila of Belize topped all attackers with 19 point including 15 kills and 3 aces, followed by opposite player Michael Jenkins with 14 points including 13 kills, outside hitter Gabriel Nuñez contributed with 13 points and outside hitter Francis Hauze added 12 points. Oustide hitter Josue Palma scored 15 points for El Salvador on 14 kills and one ace, middle blocker Manuel Platero finished also with 15 points including 6 blocks and middle blocker Eduardo Ramos contributed with 12 points.

Captain Francis Hauze of Belize said “it’s nice finishing with one victory rather than none; we just kept the team together. We blocked well because our concentration never failed. Back home we will train harder because we have the senior AFECAVOL championship but it’s with a team that has been training longer and we hope to do well”.

One of the top scorers of El Salvador, middle blocker Manuel Platero indicated “Belize didn’t give anything away, they had nothing to lose. We committed more errors than them, I believe our performances were similar, only in the third set they held a sizeable margin because our blocking wasn’t effective. We failed in receiving and defense; we have to continue improving for other tournaments”.