El Salvador Celebrates Victory with Home Crowd

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, September 22, 2026.- El Salvador celebrated its first victory at the Men’s U23 Pan American Cup alongside its home crowd, defeating Grenada 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-16) at the Palacio de los Deportes Carlos “El Famoso” Hernández.

Mauricio Reyes led all scorers with 12 points, while Abner Cano contributed 11 points to El Salvador’s victory. For Grenada, Jamal Collins and Zerick Walcott finished with six points apiece.

El Salvador held the advantage in every scoring category, 33-16 in attacks, 7-3 in blocks, and 8-3 in aces. Grenada gave away 27 points on errors compared to 18 by El Salvador.

The start of the match was challenging for El Salvador, which trailed during the opening points of the first set. However, the hosts quickly responded, took control, and maintained their dominance throughout the rest of the match to complete the straight-set victory.

El Salvador will face Guatemala on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., while Grenada will have a rest day.

Oscar Martínez, captain of El Salvador: “It’s a unique experience. I had never played in this venue before. The support from the crowd was key to lifting our spirits and helping us overcome our nerves. Tomorrow, we have a do-or-die match against Guatemala. We have prepared for this match and we are ready.”

Acea Emmons, captain of Grenada: “This is our first time competing at this level, and the guys have little experience in this type of tournament. Despite that, the most positive thing was that we kept our energy throughout the entire match. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we’re taking this experience as a learning opportunity for our next match and, from there, continuing to grow.”