United States overcome combative Nicaragua

Havana, Cuba, June, 24, 2016 – Defending champions United Sates overcame Nicaragua 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-23) in the second match on opening day of the NORCECA Boys U19 Championship which is held in the Sports City Coliseum.

Despite the American team being a top contender for the gold medal and one of the winners of the two tickets available to the World Championship to be held in 2017, their Central American opponents experienced exciting moments in the first and third sets when scored over 20 points.

Samuel Shweisky, American Technical Director, explained his team was full of energy, but some nervous as it has been their international debut. “My boys were really timid whereas the Nicaraguans, while playing calm, did it well, more relaxed. It was a good opportunity to see them all playing and get them familiar with the court and the environment.”

The quite-tall captain, Kyler Presho, a 2.03-meter-height middle blocker, said “it was a favourable start for us. It is always good start off by winning. It is normal to have difficulty in, but we will be able to come through it all and not repeat them in the next matches”.

The Nicaraguan head coach, Osma Hernández, considered the two 23-25 sets to be positive. “The lack of experience played a dirty trick on us. They are almost children and thus they were able neither to play under the pressure put on them in the service and nor spike to close the sets. In the second set, our service completely collapsed. However we realized we could, even with a shorter height average, to win the largest rallies and therefore we will definitively put on better sports shows”.

Byron Hernández, an outside hitter who excelled on his team throughout the match, excited expressed “it was unexpected thing as United States is a clear favourite, but having played two sets 23-25 versus Americans was fruitful in spite of the loss.