Colombia finished seventh at U-18

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, May 4, 2013. - Colombia defeated host Guatemala in straight sets (25-18, 25-14, 25-13) to finish seventh place of the U-18 Girls Pan Am Cup on Saturday at Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium.

Colombia was much more with advantage in blocks and service points by 13-1 and 7-3 respectively; also with 35 positive attacks over 19 from Guatemala.

Amanda Caneo (17), Maria Ararat (11) and Yeisy Soto (10) were Colombia’s best attacks. Guatemala’s Astrid Chacon was their top scorer with 6 points.

“In the beginning the tournament was hard for us and after losing the opportunity to qualify to the world championship we had to conform with our position which not only helps us to grow as players but as persons” said Veronica Pasos of Colombia.

“We were more organized in this match than the one in the preliminary round with Colombia, we are motivated to continue working and to reach our goal to be Central American champions” indicated EstefanieBathancourth Guatemala’s captain.

Oscar Guevara coach of Colombia recognized the hard work they must begin going back home “if we want to be in a better position we have to start making structural changes.  For this match we studied Guatemala’s performance in previous matches and our result was a positive one.”

Julio Dominguez coach of Guatemala expressed “I’m thankful to God for the experience our team and myself had, we are in evolution and the team improved. In September we hope to win the Central American Championship”.