Honduras defeats Guatemala in straights sets

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, September 8, 2023 - Honduras secured their second victory of the tournament by defeating Guatemala 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-19) to tart the third day of the XXII AFECAVOL Women’s Senior Central American Cup.

Cecille Johnson led Honduras to victory with 12 points, scoring eight in the first set and four in the second when she had to leave the match due to a knee injury. However, middle blocker Ana Gabriela Marcelín contributed 9 points, and opposite hitter Dazly Durán added eight. For Guatemala, outside hitter María Santa Cruz scored 10 points.

Honduras held the advantage with a 30-26 lead in attacks, 7-4 in blocks, and 5-3 in service, with 33 points from unforced errors by their opponents compared to 20 committed.

On Saturday, Guatemala, that has no wins in three outings, faces Costa Rica at 1:30 p.m., and Honduras takes on Panama at 4:00 p.m.

AFECAVOL COPA MAYOR FEMENINA

QUOTES

Dazly Durán, standout player for Honduras: “We feel excited, euphoric because we have two consecutive victories, and we hope to get into form for the upcoming tough matches. We must improve; we have the toughest games at the end, that’s why these early matches should help us fine-tune our team play. In the third set, we felt a bit discouraged due to Cecille’s (Johnson) injury, but we hope to have her back tomorrow”.

María Alvarez, captain of Guatemala: “Honestly, it has been a quite challenging tournament for us. We don’t know what’s happening; we didn’t expect these results in these matches. We came well-prepared, but I think fear of making mistakes got to us. We’ve been there, we’ve been close to winning sets, but they slipped away from us. We’re still standing, and we must keep going. We trained a lot for this, for a whole year, put in a great effort, the sets are there, but we need that final push”.