Defending champion Guatemala with third straight win

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, September 19, 2018. - Defending champion Guatemala with third straight win beating Belize 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-13) at the Men’s U23 AFECAVOL Central American Championship in Teodoro Palacios Flores of Guatemala City.

Host Guatemala not only earned their third victory of the event, but also grabbed another straight set victory to complete the fourth day of competition undefeated with 3-0 record and perfect 15 points in ranking. Belize is win-less with one point.

Belize put up good pressure in the first set keeping up with Guatemala’s fast performance over the net. The defending champion held a sizeable advantage up to the second set, unreachable for a less experienced Belizean squad. Guatemala continued with little resistance finishing with strength.

Belize handed out Guatemala’s victory allowing 32 points in errors, while Guatemala only committed 17 errors. Guatemala led 33-23 in spikes, 7-2 in blocks and a slim 3-2 margin in aces.

Outside hitter Carlos Lopez led Guatemala’s attackers with 12 points on 9 kills and 3 blocks; and outside hitter Wagner Chacon along with opposite Erick Flores contributed with 9 points apiece. Outside hitter Daryl Avila led Belize with 11 points on 10 kills and one block.

Guatemala (3-0) expects a tough battle on Thursday, while facing the other undefeated team Nicaragua (3-0). Belize (0-3) plays against Panama (2-2).

“Belize hits high, they play against our hands and they were strong at the beginning of the sets” said captain Carlos Lopez; “we set the rhythm at point 10, we perform fast because we have to contrast our short height; we have a long time playing together and we know each other well. We hope to minimize our errors when we face Nicaragua” he added.

Reider Lucas coach of Guatemala said Belize competed well “they have a lot of potential, tactically they have improved, but my boys knew how to control themselves and do their job to impose their style slowly and finish in three sets. From tomorrow on the matches will be more demanding and we have a game plan of what to do. Our strongest feature is the team’s development, they know how to play and each player knows their role”.

According to captain Francis Hauze of Belize, “we performed well the first part of each set because we stayed concentrated; our coach kept on reminding us to keep focused and put pressure. Belize knows how to push strong, we can do much better. There is a lot of miscommunication between us”.

Coach of Belize Esmudio Limonta explained that his team was stable in the beginning “we are well up to point 8-9, but from there on we begin to lose control; there are too many errors and our opponent takes advantage. We had little time to prepare and we are here to win 2 or 3 games, we hope to reach our goal”.