Costa Rica Takes First Place in Pool B at the

VII AFECAVOL U23 Central American Championship

CHIRIQUÍ, Panama, September 18, 2025. – Costa Rica finished with a perfect 3-0 record and claimed the top spot in Pool B after defeating Nicaragua in a hard-fought duel 3-1 (25-17, 15-25, 25-20, 26-24), in the final day of pool play at the VII AFECAVOL U23 Central American Men’s Championship.

Nicaragua finished in second place with a 2-1 win-loss record, and like Costa Rica, now awaits the definition of the final standings in Pool A to determine the semifinal matchups.

ÁLBUM CRC VS NCA

Costa Rica faced its toughest test of the tournament against Nicaragua, after comfortable 3-0 victories over Honduras and El Salvador.

The Costa Rican squad imposed its superior blocking, scoring 13 points collectively against Nicaragua’s 7, and also led in attacking points 55-53.

Both teams were tied in service points 2-2 and were nearly even in points given away by unforced errors, with 22 for Costa Rica and 23 for Nicaragua.

Stanley Grant was Costa Rica’s main offensive weapon with 23 points, while Ignacio Sánchez finished with 12 and Yulius Brown contributed 11 points.

For Nicaragua, Yader León scored 15 points, Josué Blandón had 14, and Jesy Umaña added 13.

After the match, Costa Rica’s coach César Salas commented: “It was a very intense match; we were facing a very strong opponent. During the match we stopped making some of the adjustments we had discussed, especially in blocking, and it complicated things for us quite a bit. But in the end, our serve helped us a lot, and in the last set we were able to execute better in blocking.”

Meanwhile, Nicaragua’s coach Jorge Mena said after the match: “We wanted to win to take first place in the group, but it wasn’t meant to be. The boys lost focus at certain moments in the match, especially in the fourth set when we couldn’t score a key point. We must recognize that Costa Rica has great reach, and we couldn’t block at the right moments.”