Costa Rica with tight win against Panama

PANAMA CITY, Panama, October 20, 2017 - Costa Rica won a 3-2 victory (20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 15-8) against Panama on the second day of the XII Championship Central American U19 Men's Volleyball.

Deykel Smith and Yeyco Jiménez each with 13 points were the best for the winners, while the hosts counted on 27 points each of Denzel Arboine and Jose Vásquez.

Costa Rica had 47 mistakes of the opponent, while only committed 22. Panama dominated the 60 to 38 in attacks and 11-6 in services. Costa Rica was better at blocking 14-8.

Juan Acuña, coach of Costa Rica, said that "if yesterday was a tough match against Guatemala, with a very technical and orderly team, today against Panama was just as complicated by its power, height, strength, but we won by being effective in blockade and attack, in addition to the service."

"Another of the things we did was to change the setter (Justin Cruz), he was calmer, calmer, and that contributed to the victory," said Acuña.

Eugenio Ortiz, coach of Panama, said that "we lost about 15 serves, we had many deficiencies in the service. We gave them more than half a set, but hey, the attack solved, I think it was played well. There is still a tournament to play, and we have only 15 days of preparation and we have a lot of future. "