Guatemala Defeats Suriname for Seventh Place

PONCE, Puerto Rico, May 19, 2024. - Guatemala defeated Suriname 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-14) for seventh place in the Boys U19  NORCECA Continental Championship on the final day of the event in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Guatemala finished the tournament with a 1-4 win-loss record, while Suriname ended with a 0-5 record.

Guatemala dominated in attack points 43-28 and service points 9-3. Suriname led in blocks 8-4, allowing more points from errors 19-15.

Outside hitters Boris González and Luis Mendizábal led Guatemala with 17 and 16 points respectively. González scored on 16 attacks and one ace, while Mendizábal contributed with 12 attacks, 2 blocks, and 2 aces.

Opposite player Javier Nasibdar was Suriname's top scorer with 12 points on 11 attacks and one block.

Luis Fernando Castańeda, Head coach of Guatemala: “It was a very tough competition for us. We had good matches and in others we struggled. We managed to get the victory today and we wish to continue working. This was a good experience for everyone, we learned a lot to do better in other competitions. Guatemala is very determined regardless of our opponent, and we have good performances in tournaments”.

Furjil Ong-A-Fat, Head coach of Suriname: “Our performance was bad. We failed in attack y receive, our service was too easy, and we made a lot of errors. We could have played much better; we had a bad match today”.