Nicaragua finish in fifth place

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 7 2012.— Nicaragua recovered from a two sets deficit to finish in fifth place after a 3-2 (18-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12) win over Costa Rica in the NORCECA Boys’ U-19 Continental Championship.

Nicaragua’s Ruben Alejandro Mora had 20 points (2 aces), while Ivan Mejia, Christopher Lee Lazo and Yuriel Duarte contributed 19, 15 and 12 respectively

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On the Costa Rican side, Cesar Gomez scored a match-high 23 points (3 aces) while Victor Alpizar, Jafet García each had 17 and Luis Diego Abarca tallied 15.

“This was a very intense, tough and close match,” Costa Rica’s Captain Andres Araya said. “I feel we fell in an excess of confidence, and we could not correct the same mistakes about blocking and defending”.

Nicaragua’s coach Osman Hernández decided to replace Captain Douglas Alexander Chavez with Ivan Mejía, who took a leading role on the team after the first two sets and was the second best scorer.

 “We were two sets down and we recovered our motivation, we felt invigorated. I received this opportunity and I feel great to get this kind of confidence despite the very few training sessions,” Mejía said about his performance.

“The last three matches have been like this, very close, very demanding, but that really helps us to advance and improve. We had one goal: to win a fifth place and we achieved it,” Coach Hernández said.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica coach, Alberto Travieso concluded: “I just want to congratulate coach Hernández and Nicaragua. The players did a great job.”