Honduras undefeated, Guatemala in the mix for the medals

BELIZE CITY, Belize, July 21, 2017 – Honduras reached to four victories as the only undefeated team of the XVII U20 Women’s Central American Championship by defeating El Salvador 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-21) while Guatemala edged the unbeaten Costa Rica in five exciting sets in the penultimate day of the competition.

Nathaly Pérez with 16 points was the best Honduran while Alejandra Jimenez had 14 for El Salvador.

The Hondurans first defeated Panama 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-11) and they will need to win the duels against Guatemala and Costa Rica to claim the gold medal.

Honduras reached to 18 points (4-0), Costa Rica and Guatemala both have 15 (3-1) and next are Nicaragua with 12, Belize and El Salvador with 7 and Panama with 1.

Guatemala entered in the mix for the medals after winning an exciting five-setter 3-2 (12-25, 25-23, 25-17, 18-28 y 15-10) over Costa Rica.

Paola Alvarado and Kimberli Cardona shared the attack with 15 points apiece, María Juárez contributed 13 for the winners. Edya Espinoza scored 20 puntos and Santa Volkovs added 14 for Costa Rica.

Earlier, Guatemala defeated Belize 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-15) thanks to the combined effort of Alvarado with 13 points, Cardona with 11 and 9 from Daniela Tornoe. Belize was stopped to six points by Mya Musa and five by Kori Diego.

The Costa Ricans had defeated Nicaragua 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-11) with a strong performance by Espinoza and Volkovs who had 13 and 11 points, respectively. The Nicaraguans closed the day with a 3-0  (25-17, 25-12, 25-12) win over Panamá with nine points from Masiel Brenes.