Belize beats Panama in straight sets

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, June 26, 2019 - Belize achieved its second triumph of the U23 Central American Championship Women’s Volleyball Championship by defeating the winless in four outings Panama 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18).

The captain of Belize, Sherika Burton, led her team with 13 points, 8 of them in attacks and 3 in services, Melanie Palacio contributed 11, 5 of them in blocking and six in attacks. Yileen Ng was limited to 9 points for Panama.

Belize was better in attacks 33-27, in blocking 9-1 and in services 4-3, adding 29 points from errors of the opponent and committing 19.

José Fontes, coach of Belize: "We are not really satisfied with the team in general. Sometimes it seems that they trust too much, we are not worried, but we have to improve in that aspect of concentration. The competition does not give us space to relax, tomorrow's match (against Costa Rica) is very strong and today we could not prove all the players because of the problem of overconfidence."

Isamel Ortega, coach of Panama: "We are looking for the best team for the Panama Games 2022, we started the game very apathetic, we were raised little by little, but we let them take a lot of advantage, up to 12 points, we made nine points in a row, but in the end we fell. We do not lose faith, we do not lose courage, with the team and with the development of volleyball in Panama”.

Belize faces Costa Rica on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., and Panama plays against Nicaragua at 6:30 p.m.