El Salvador hands third defeat to Panama

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 26, 2014 – El Salvador defeated Panama in the last match of the fourth day at the U23 Central American Men’s Tournament leaving the home team in a critical situation and very small chances of getting a medal.

The Panamanians made a great effort winning the second set but at the end fell down victim of many errors at the key moments. The final score was 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22) for El Salvador who now has a 3-0 record with 12 points, one less than Costa Rica who leads the standings at 3-0 and 13 points.

Rodrigo Chavez led El Salvador with 15 points, followed by Armando Guatemala and Mauricio Rivas who each contributed 14 points in the victory. Angel Beitia and Noriel Fuentes had 15 points apiece as the best of Panama.

El Salvador’s coach Ricardo Rivera expressed his satisfaction because his players showed motivation and desire, something he didn’t see on Monday when they also won. The captain Rodrigo Chavez said the next three matches will be very demanding against Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.

Eric Lucero, coach of Panama, said that once again his players were not able to deal with the key points and lacked consistency with their attacks. Beiro said they lost the match for being over confident about the victory going into the court.