Honduras debuts with victory over Panama

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, August 7, 2014.- Hosts Honduras made their debut at the Women’s U-23 AFECAVOL Central American Championship with victory over Panama by 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-18) at Jorge A. Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Day one of the competition closed with more than eight hundred spectators to support the home team who beat Panama in straight sets.

Honduras performed better in every category; in spikes with a 38-23 margin, in blocks with 8-6 margin and in service points by 2-1. Both teams committed 27 errors.

Eloisa Sarmiento, captain of Honduras was excited with the win “this victory is very important because it sets the pace for the rest of the tournament, giving us more confidence. Panama was a tough opponent and they gave us difficulties during the match”.

“I believe the crowd played an important part in Honduras victory. It was a hard match and we pressured ourselves too much, it was a good battle. We need to play less stressed without losing motivation” indicated Panama’s captain Maria Anino.

Cuban coach Marco Tejada for Honduras said as this is his first experience in a Central American championship he really can’t anticipate much in each match, “today Panama battled hard and this is only the beginning, they only lost one battle. Honduras had difficulties in their game structure, committing too many errors, basically in our serves. I believe it was a good match and worthy to be an opener”.

Panamanian coach Edgar Restrepo said “the players were evidently nervous, we haven’t had a lot of practice and we missed too many serves, trying to make them difficult to receive. Honduras deserved to win and we need to work harder to improve and win”.