Costa Rica undefeated champion

PANAMA CITY, October 21, 2017 - Costa Rica beat El Salvador 3-1 (25-13, 25-20, 12-25, 25-18) and returned to the throne of the Central American U19 Men's Volleyball Championship, which they did not won for eight years, leaving Guatemala in second and Panama third.

The Costa Rican team ended up undefeated in five games, some of them intense, as against Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua, coming from behind to snatch the victory.

In 2009, also in Panama, the coach Juan Acuña obtained the fifth title for Costa Rica, and it was he who again took them to the top of the podium.

Jeferson Guzman scored 13 points, Dowshel Mcdonald with 12 and 10 Juan Arrieta for Costa Rica, while Diego Guidos confirmed to be the top scorer with 42 points for El Salvador.

Costa Rica was superior in attack 46-43 and their opponent made more mistakes (31-18), although the winners were surpassed in blockade 10-7 and in the serve 5-3 by the Salvadorans.

Juan Acuña, coach of Costa Rica, excited by the achievement of his pupils, commented that “Our last title was in Chitré and there I was also. For eight years we had drought of championships at the level of minors, but in September last year the president (of the Costa Rican Volleyball Federation) called me and told me to organize the minor leagues and look for tall players".

Acuña explained that "despite my condition (amputated one leg), we are working with the different teams, with the Sub 21 we saw samples of the change of game system in the tournament in Nicaragua and with the greatest hope that they bear fruit ".

"The idea is to continue working with the tall people and improve male volleyball, which has always been very close to the female," added Acuña.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica captain Juan Arrieta said "the goal was to win the tournament and thank God we did it. Each of us was up to it, we did good and bad things, but the team complimented and things worked out. "

"We managed to overcome many obstacles like heat or fatigue, and we made fewer mistakes than the opposites, that was fundamental. I think the generation is very strong, we just have to keep working to keep us high,"said Arrieta.