Nicaragua past over El Salvador in three sets

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, December 12, 2017.- Hosts Nicaragua past over El Salvador 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-13) in their third victory at the women’s Volleyball tournament of the eleventh Central American Games Managua 2017 at Alexis Argüello sport complex.

The home team charged over El Salvador suffering the loss of outside hitter Valeska Hernandez at the beginning of set two who was carried out with a knee injury. Nicaragua remained strong to finish with a comfortable lead in set three.

This was Nicaragua’s third consecutive victory for a 3-0 record and a total of 15 points; El Salvador remains win-less with 0-3 mark and one point.

Nicaragua finished with overwhelming 42-17 margin in kills and 7-3 margin in blocks, while El Salvador held advantage in aces 5-2. In errors, Nicaragua committed 22 and El Salvador 24.

From Nicaragua, middle blocker Heidy Traña scored a match-high of 15 points on 14 kills and one ace, joined by Josafat Diaz with 10 points. Outside hitter Adriana Flores led El Salvador with 7 points. 

Nicaragua (3-0) will face Panama (1-2) on day four of competition and El Salvador has the day off.

Captain of Nicaragua Claudia Noguera: “Nicaragua prevailed with initiative in every skill of the game; we kept focused and we didn’t allow our opponent to get into rhythm. We will go on performing supporting one another and executing everything we’ve been practicing”.

Head coach of Nicaragua René Quintana: “Thrilled with the win; sad and worried with Valeska’s injury, if she’s not well to comeback we will fight even stronger on her behalf. The best feature today was mentally recovering from Valeska’s loss; we played strong. There is no easy opponent and we will work hard against everyone”.

Outside hitter of El Salvador Maria Jose Galeano: “The pressure of facing the hosts and their fans was to much for us; unfortunately our errors were back to back and we weren’t able to come from behind. We were more focused in set two and with better energy”.