Colombia defeats Guatemala in straight sets

GUANAJUATO, Mexico, September 6 2016 - Colombia opened with a triumph at the III Men’s U23 Pan Am Cup after beating Guatemala in straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-20 and 25-21.

The Central American team gave a very good fight in the last set against the South American representative. Wagner Chacon of Guatemala topped with 15 points.

For Colombia, Jeyson Morelos closed with 14 points and Juan Moreno registered 11. Colombia closed with a 5-2 serving advantage and 8-3 in blocks in a match that lasted one hour and nine minutes.

“This was a good and tough victory at the same time. It was good to begin with a win. Tomorrow we face Mexico. We have worked hard during these last three months with our coach and we have held very good practices. We expect to keep growing”, said Kevin Caravalli, captain of Colombia.

“I could say that we played well but it is necessary to improve some things for our next match. Mexico is a very tough team and will be more difficult for us than it was against Guatemala. We have to correct some faults and I hope we have a good match tomorrow,” said Percy Oncken, coach of Colombia.

“We knew it was going to be tough. We prepared ourselves for that. Things were not as we would like but the guys gave their best. We could not make it. This match was important in order to aspire and go for more. However we will work to finish in a good place at the end,” Reider Lucas, coach of Guatemala mentioned.

“It was going to be difficult. We had not seen Colombia before. We were not focused in the first set, but after that we could get into rhythm and enjoyed the match. I think we could do more but it couldn’t be possible. However we fought hard,” said Erik Flores, captain of Guatemala.