Honduras beats resilient Belize in five sets

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, August 6, 2016.- Honduras beat Belize in five sets 3-2 (25-21, 25-13, 22-25, 23-25, 15-12) on opening day of the AFECAVOL Women’s U23 Central American Championship in Gimnasio 7 de Diciembre Alfonso Gordillo of Guatemala City.

Honduras had a very good beginning while completely dominating Belize in sets one and two, but Belize had a spectacular come back controlling their opponents mostly with serves.

Honduras held advantage in spikes 53-41 and scored on 42 points on Belize’ unforced errors. Belize managed a huge 15-7 margin in aces and 9-8 in blocking, and scored on 31 opponent errors.

On Sunday, Honduras (1-0) will face El Salvador at 5:00pm while Belize (0-1) meets with the home team at 7:00pm.

Opposite Cecille Johnson of Honduras scored a match-high of impressive 29 points, 24 on kills and 5 aces; joined by middle blocker Nathaly Perez and outside hitter Lourdes Morales contributed with 13 and 10 points respectively. Outside hitter Jahshema Saunders of Belize scored 17 points, outside hitter Sherika Burton added 14 points and middle blocker Kevanna Sebastian 13 points.

Honduras’ captain Lourdes Morales said “in the third set we were overconfident and we let them get better rhythm. We finished winning, and in the end that’s what matters”.

 “It was a very exciting match, we took long to warm up, we took things a little bit light; at least we fought the game. We expect to play harder and bring our game from the beginning” said captain Sherika Bruton of Belize.

Cuban Marcos Tejeda coach of Honduras said “this is the youngest team in the competition and I believe they pressured themselves too much, they proved that they are capable of playing at a higher level. Even if they should have won 3-0, it was a good first match”.

Coach Jack Reyes of Belize indicated “I’m satisfied the way the team came-back, even if they took so long to get in the mood. Sherika is one of the most experienced players and she really started to play up to the third set. I think we’ll get better”.