El Salvador defeats Guatemala and thinks big

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, June 26, 2019 - El Salvador defeated Guatemala 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-23) in one of the most disputed duels of the IV Central American U23 Women’s Volleyball Championship full of defensive plays .

The Salvadorans took advantage of Guatemala's mistakes to prevail in the first set and that marked the rest of the game.

Guatemala dominated in attacks 40-34 and services 4-3, in blocking were equal 4-4, but committed 37 errors (especially in the service) compared to 21 of their opponents.

The attack of El Salvador was divided among several players, with 9 points each by Tatiana Mejivar and Gabriela Funes, plus 8 from María Jiménez and Roxana Avalos. For Guatemala, the attack was focused on María Villagrán, who scored 21 points and María García, with 20.

Noé Fabián, coach of El Salvador: "The team has always been characterized by having a claw and now they showed it, the first set was complicated, and in the second we made a couple of changes and they worked for us. We hope we can continue like this and this victory means a lot morally because Guatemala is always a team that is on the podium and has been above El Salvador."

William Fernandez, coach of Guatemala: "It is very difficult to win when you have a team with very low self-esteem and courage does not exist in the athlete that means they make a lot of mistakes and lose confidence very quickly. The team has an adequate technical-tactical level, but they have no courage".

"If they are not aggressive and eliminate their fears, nothing can be done. In the serve they were very tense, very nervous, they did not comply with the tactical guidelines ".

Guatemala will face Honduras in a do-or-die match for both teams at 4:30 p.m. of this Thursday. El Salvador has rest and still have games against Honduras and Belize.