Honduras Edges Curacao in Close Match

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA (Aug. 31, 2012) – Honduras rallied past Curacao 25-27, 25-19, 27-25, 25-19 Friday afternoon during the NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental Championship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Honduras will now advance to the fifth-place place on Saturday at 13:00 and will face Guatemala, while Curacao will play St. Vincent and the Grenadines at 11:00 on Saturday for seventh place.

Ricardo Vasquez led Honduras with 17 points, while teammates Jose Vasquez contributed 15 points and Frank Alley 13 points.

Quinten Anthony paced Curacao with 26 points while Jurcham Meulens followed with 21 points.

Honduras benefited from 44 Curacao errors in the match to its own 22 in offsetting Curacao’s 59-48 margin in kills. Honduras held a slim 9-7 block advantage.

Honduras rattled off three straight for a 23-22 lead in the opening set. Curacao saved two set points and gained the lead at 26-25 and won the set 27-25 on an ace by Quinten Anthony. Honduras opened a 7-1 advantage in the second set, but Curacao rallied to within 11-9. Honduras answered with three quick points assuming a 14-9 lead and maintained the momentum for a 25-19 victory. Curacao recovered from an 8-5 deficit in the third set to level the score at 10-all. Honduras maintained a slim lead until Curacao tied the set at 23-all with back-to-back points, but Honduras put the set away at 27-25 on its third set-point chance. After Curacao rallied to tie the fourth set at 11-all, Honduras rolled to a 16-12 advantage and capped the match with a 25-19 victory.

“I want to congratulate Curacao for a great match today,” Honduras head coach Rony Martinez said. “Our team did really well in its attitude on the court. We performed well in defense and blocking. We hope to get even better tomorrow versus Guatemala.”

“Well, first I want to congratulate Curacao as they gave us a tough match,” Honduras captain Ricardo Vasquez said. “They were fighting through the match, but we kept fighting. We got to the fourth set and finished strong. Guatemala has always been a tough team, but if we play like we did today with attitude and go for each ball, I think we will win.”

“I would like to congratulate Honduras for the win,” Curacao head coach Paulina Gilbert said. “In the first set we played defense and had a good attack. In the other sets, Honduras’ defense was better.”

“Congratulations to Honduras for winning today,” Curacao captain Raynold Marchena said. “Today our team began well in the first set. The Honduras defense was very good today. Today, we played good as well.”