Guatemala unstoppable at AFECAVOL WCQT

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, December 2, 2016.- Guatemala continues unstoppable at the AFECAVOL Women’s FIVB World Championship qualification tournament after beating Panama 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-23) at IND Volleyball Venue in Managua, Nicaragua.

Guatemala showed superiority in sets one and two, controlling Panama’s defense completely. In set three Guatemala recovered from a five point deficit (9-14) as Panama managed to find their better game. Guatemala stands with perfect 3-0 record, while Panama drops to 1-2.

Guatemala held advantage in every category with 39-23 margin in kills, 9-6 in blocks and 6-2 in aces. In errors they were similar; Guatemala committed 23 unforced errors and Panama a total of 21.

With 17 points, outside hitter Blanca Recinos of Guatemala, topped all scorers; opposite Rut Gomez added 13 points and middle blocker Ada Villalobos tallied 10 points. From Panama, outside hitter Joanna Arroyo scored 11 points and Maria Gallimore 10.

Guatemala (3-0) will play their last match of the event against Nicaragua on Saturday. Panama (1-2) has the day off.

Middle blocker Ada Villalobos explained “we lost concentration and set three was very hard to overcome; we were too relaxed because things went really well for us in the previous sets and Panama took advantage. The tournament hasn’t finished, tomorrow we play against Nicaragua and the team with the best preparation will win”.

Cuban William Fernandez coach of Guatemala indicated “Panama eliminated Guatemala in the past world qualifier, so we studied them well and set a the right tactics to beat them In the last set we were overconfident and Panama had their best performance, but we’ve been coming from behind the whole tournament and we were able to finish on top. This is the first time for me coaching Guatemala’s senior team and I am really confident in their preparation, we had 98% assistance the whole year”.

“We were completely off today, we had conflicts among us and in any team this makes things harder. Guatemala took advantage of the situation, which we weren’t able to do while leading set three to extend the match further” said captain Joanna Arroyo.