Costa Rica To Defend Women’s Beach Volleyball

Title at the Central American Games

JALAPA, Guatemala, October 23, 2025.– Costa Rica will seek to defend its title in the women’s beach volleyball tournament at the 12th Central American Games Guatemala 2025, to be held from October 24 to 28 at the Jalapa Sports Complex.

In the women’s category, Costa Rica holds the title thanks to the duo of Karen Cope and Natalia Alfaro, champions in Managua 2017 after defeating Kathya Vásquez and María Fernanda Vargas of El Salvador. For Alfaro, that gold marked her second consecutive title, having previously won alongside Ingrid Morales in Costa Rica 2013.

Historically, Costa Rica and El Salvador have dominated the event since the discipline was introduced to the Central American Games, with two gold medals each. El Salvador was crowned champion in 1997 and 2001, while Costa Rica did so in 2013 and 2017. Both countries also have one silver medal—Costa Rica (2001) and El Salvador (2017). Honduras earned one silver and one bronze (both in 1997), Nicaragua has one silver (2013) and one bronze (2017), while Guatemala holds two bronze medals (2001 and 2013).

For this edition, Costa Rica will compete with the team of Marcela Araya and Eugenia Ramírez, who will look to maintain the nation’s prestige in this discipline. Nicaragua will be represented by Socorro López and Lolette Rodríguez, the latter a bronze medalist alongside Swan Mendoza in the previous edition of the Games.

Most of the participating teams have experience on the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour, except for Belize and Panama. Among them, El Salvador’s Karla Tovar and Daniela Vigil stand out, having earned the bronze medal this year at the NORCECA U23 Tour stop held in the Cayman Islands.

The competition format will follow a round-robin system, with the top team from the preliminary phase advancing directly to the semifinals. The preliminary round will be played from October 24 to 27, followed by the qualification matches for the remaining semifinal spots on the afternoon of October 27, while the semifinals and gold medal match will take place on October 28, the final day of competition.

Women's Teams (AFECAVOL Ranking):

COSTA RICA: Marcela Araya/Eugenia Ramírez (Ramírez/Araya)

NICARAGUA: Socorro López/Lolette Rodríguez (López/Lolette) 

GUATEMALA: Paola Alvarado/Laura Quiñónez (Alvarado/Quiñónez)

EL SALVADOR: Karla Tovar/Daniela Vigil (Tovar/Vigil)

HONDURAS: Shanna Rivera/Reizel Bruhier (Bruhier/Rivera)

PANAMÁ: Ingrid Lezcano/Krisleen González (González/Wilson)

BELIZE: Clara Sabal/Aaliyah Pilgrim (Sabal/Pilgrim)