Guatemala Reaches Quarterfinals with Win over Barbados

TULSA, United States, July 16, 2014 – Guatemala won a hard-fought battle against Barbados, 25-21, 18-25, 24-26, 26-24, 15-13 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the NORCECA Boys’ U19 Continental Championship at the Cox Business Center Arena.

Guatemala (1-2) will play the loser of the Pool A match between the United States and Puerto Rico in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Barbados finishes the tournament at 0-3.

Guatemala middle blocker Ricardo Mendoza was injured at the beginning of the second set and Guatemala said they fought to win for him.

“We started to worry a bit and we dropped our heads,” Guatemala Captain Henry Leon said. “But his injury made us think that we should win for him.”

Guatemala lost the second and third sets before winning the fourth. The fifth set was tied at 7-7 when Guatemala scored on a kill by Wagner Chacon and a Barbados hitting error. Barbados came back with a kill from Ricardo Mendoza, but Guatemala used a 5-1 run to reach match point at 14-9.

Barbados held off the loss with two straight attacks from Carlos Cyrus. Guatemala’s next attack went out of bounds and Adam Niles had and ace to pull Barbados to within one point at 14-13. Guatemala called timeout and came back with a kill off the Barbados block to win the match.

“We started the game really slow and it was unforced errors that caused us to lose the match,” Barbados Team Captain Andriy Stapleton said. “I tried as hard as I can to make sure we got to the quarterfinals. It was just a tough match.”

Guatemala scored on 38 Barbados errors while committing 29. Barbados led in kills (65-57) and blocks (10-8) while the teams were tied in aces (5-5).

Erik Flores led Guatemala with 27 points on 24 kills and two aces and one block. Chacon added 26 points on 25 attacks and one block.

Stapleton led all scorers with 28 points on 25 kills and three blocks. Cyrus totaled 20 points on 18 kills, one block and one ace. Adam Niles scored 11 points on eight attacks, one block and two aces.

Quotes

Guatemala Coach Aldan Pelaez: “We should have won 3-1. My player got hurt and that messed up the mental part of the team. But they came back tomorrow and they played with a spirit of teamwork. Before the fifth set, I told my players to dedicate the set to Mendoza. For the fifth set, whoever committed fewer errors would get the win. We knew No. 8, No. 3 and No. 5 from Barbados were really strong so we focused on them.”

Guatemala Captain Henry Leon: “We started to worry a bit and we dropped our heads. But his injury made us think that we should win for him. We hope for his injury to get well very soon and to do the best we can. I think the team did really well. They performed as expected. We didn’t concentrate at times. We lost two straight sets. But I think the team united even better.”

Barbados Coach John Stuart: “We committed too many unforced errors. All the sets that we lost, we committed too many errors. That is what lost the match. It cannot be simpler than that.”

Barbados Captain Andriy Stapleton: “We started the game really slow and it was unforced errors that caused us to lose the match. I tried as hard as I can to make sure we got to the quarterfinals. It was just a tough match.”