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HAVANA, Cuba, October 8, 2022.- Haiti defeated
Nicaragua 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-18) and
finished in seventh place of the Men’s U21 Pan
American Cup.
The Caribbeans were better in blocking (13-5),
evened in serves (3-3) and were close in attacks
(50-54), committing fewer errors (26-31).
Haitian opposite hitter Estakend Beauvoir led
all scorers with 33 points, followed by his
teammate outside hitter Seraphin Antoine, who
added 15. For the opponents, two players also
scored double digits, outside hitter Denis
Espinoza (14) and middle blocker Rafael
Hernández (13).
Junior Siecle, head coach of Haiti said “We
thought we could have reached forth or fifth
place, we couldn’t reach our goal, but now we
are satisfied of not being in last. Today my
players performed joyfully and with a little
more efficiency. If we could have played like
this at the beginning, we would have finished in
the positions we desired”.
Captain Dieulengy Relis said “we consider this a
final because we didn’t think we were going to
play for seventh place, we always thought of a
better position, fourth or fifth. Every match is
different, but if we would have played like
today we could have move forward in our
results”.
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua explained
“we would have liked a better performance, I
didn’t come with my starting players, only two
middles and the setter are here. We needed to by
the airplane tickets six months before and we
are on vacation from January to April. But this
has been a great and nice experience, playing
against teams like Cuba and Canada is a
privilege and my athletes are leaving with
another mentality. This helps us to defend our
U21 Central American title next week”.
Ángelo Guadamuz, 16-year-old middle blocker,
said “it has been a great experience for us,
most of us are under 19 years old, and for some
it was their international debut in a national
team at a Pan American level. This is another
game level, it’s different from Central America
and you learn a lot in performing”. |
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