Guatemala celebrates important victory against El Salvador

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, August 18, 2017.- Guatemala celebrated an important 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-18) victory against El Salvador on day two of the XVII AFECAVOL Girls’ U-18 Central American Championship being held at Jorge A. Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.

After losing in the morning session to Costa Rica, Guatemala came on top against El Salvador with huge 34-13 advantage in spikes and a slim 9-8 margin in serves. El Salvador topped the blocking category with 3-0 margin. Guatemala committed 26 errors while El Salvador finished with 32.

Outside hitter Paola Alvarado continues to be Guatemala’s leading scorer, she finished with 15 points, followed by opposite Jimena Castellanos with 11 points.  Middle blocker Daniela Sanchez led El Salvador with 10 points.

Guatemala has a 2-1 win-loss record and accumulates 11 points to keep their hopes high; while El Salvador has no victories with 0-3 record and 0 points.

Paola Alvarado, captain of Guatemala: “We came out with our heads up high, fighting together and with good communication. We must take more advantage of our strong attack and blocking; and we must improve in receiving”.

Julio Dominguez, coach of Guatemala: “This is a formative category and recovering from a loss so fast as my team did is positive for our development. We achieved our task of working together as a team, leaving aside the tactics or technical part of the game. These are players with projection into the future and it’s important how well they executed against El Salvador”.

Eric Hernández, coach of El Salvador: “Guatemala’s game level is higher than ours, they have powerful serves, making it difficult for us to receive. On a positive note, I can say that our setting improved and we stood up to the pressure”.