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Belize City, July 16, 2022.- Guatemala recovered
from trailing 1-2 to win 3-2 (19-25, 25-20,
25-20, 19-25, 15-11) over Belize to achieve the
gold medal, during the XIX Central American U21
Women's Volleyball Championship.
Before a spectacular crowd at the Belize Civic
Center, the locals were timid and unfocused in
the first set, when Guatemala did a lot of
damage with their services and blocking.
However, from the second set Garet Bruce and
Fatoumata Camara began to be protagonists, in
addition to Kahia Gordon, to overcome the
historic match for an entire country.
In the fourth set Guatemala controlled the
strong Belizean attack, with the blocks of its
central players, Ibarra and Mendizabal, in
addition to the attack of the captain Naomi
Monney in the important points.
And in the fifth and decisive game, Guatemala
showed claw and heart, with a great defense and
good blocking counteracting the changes in
Belize looking to do damage with their great
range in attack and they kept the set and the
game, in addition to the medal of gold they
haven't earned since 2013.
María Santa Cruz scored 21 points for the
winners, including six blocks, captain Naomi
Monney with 15 points in important moments and
Andrea Mendizabal with 12, also added 6 blocks.
For Belize, Gareth Bruce with 20, Fatoumata
Camara with 16 and Khaya Gordon with 12, with 5
blocks.
Guatemala was better in attack 50-49, in
blocking 17-10 and serving 9-7, with 29 errors
by Belize to 33 by the winners.
The best Libero went to Sofía Solano, from
Belize, and Marcela Roa, from Nicaragua, the
Best Defense.
Honduras wins the bronze
Honduras, for its part, beat Nicaragua 3-0
(25-23, 25-19, 25-18) to secure third place.
The Hondurans, last champions in the Under 20
tournament three years ago, were 2-2, while
Nicaragua was in fourth place with 1-3.
Honduras was better in blocking 10-4 and
dominated in serves 9-4, with 4 "aces" by Andrea
Aceituno who was the top scorer with 20
points... Nicaragua was better in attack 38-30,
with Gilmary Smith with 11 points , although
they committed 26 errors for 14 of their
opponents. |
