Guatemala starts with victory over Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, October 29, 2019 - Guatemala won 3-0 (25-19, 28-26, 25-20) over host Nicaragua in the closing game of the first day of the XIII Central American Volleyball Men's Sub Championship 19.

The first set remained even until point 16, when Guatemala took the lead 19-16, which Nicaragua could not recover. In the second set, both teams had two points to set, but it was Guatemala that took advantage of complicating with their service. The third set was completely for Guatemala, who had their best weapon in the service by beating the locals 12-3 and 34-20 in attack. In blockade they equaled five points and Nicaraguans gave up 27 points for their own mistakes for 29 of their opponents.

The opposite José Villagrán with 17 points, six of them in serves, was the top scorer for Guatemala, Francisco Gamboa with 14 and Carlos Caballeros contributed with 11. For Nicaragua, Denis Espinoza and Victor Cruz were left with 9 points each.

Luis Castañeda, coach of Guatemala: “It's a beautiful show, to see the public's support for its people, but we were focused on what we would have against it and we managed to overcome it. The second set got a little complicated, but we worked the service quite hard and that helped us, we go step by step, we are well focused on the competition. ”

Carlos Caballeros, captain of Guatemala: “The key was that we handled the attitude quite well and did not make many mistakes. To be the first game we were very good, we do not feel pressured by the public. We are prepared strongly for this tournament because there are no easy rivals.”

Dilan Maldonado, captain of Nicaragua: “It was an interesting game, we played with everything, we fought every point and in the end we couldn't, but we will try to win the other games. The positive thing today is that we have already seen our mistakes, like the reception and we have to train more to improve”.

Osman Hernández, coach of Nicaragua: “The truth is that the boys started motivated, the second set was very good, we needed to close better, and now our team saw that they can play better ... we hope they manage to assimilate and learn that the tournament is just beginning.”