Nicaragua Finishes Fifth with Victory over Guatemala

TULSA, United States (July 18, 2014) – Nicaragua finished the NORCECA Boys’ Under-19 Continental Championship in fifth place with a 25-21, 25-18, 28-26 win over Guatemala on Friday at the Cox Business Center.

Nicaragua finishes the tournament 1-3 while Guatemala is 1-4.

Nicaragua Team Captain Alejandro Gabriel called the victory important for his team.

“This is the second time we have played against Guatemala,” Gabriel said. “The first time, we lost. It means a lot to win the second match and it was really tough.”

Nicaragua had a slight edge in kills (37-36), but dominated the blocks (9-5) and aces (7-1).

Guatemala Team Captain Henry Leon thought his team might have been overconfident.

“Last year we beat them 3-0, and it wasn’t really a tight game,” Leon said. “I think we were overconfident and we lost concentration.”

The most competitive set was the third when it came back from trailing 18-15 and tied the score at 18-18. Guatemala reached set point first at 25-24, but Nicaragua tied the score with a kill. Guatemala took a second set point at 26-25, but Nicaragua’s Freddy Vanegas scored with a kill and Juan Reyes gave Nicaragua the victory with two straight aces.

Nicaragua’s Roberto Espinosa led all scorers with 17 points on 10 attacks, a match-high five blocks and two aces. Reyes added 13 points on 10 attacks, one block and two aces.

Wagner Chacon and Erik Flores each scored 14 points for Guatemala. Chacon scored all his points on kills. Flores had 12 attacks, one block and one ace.

Quotes

Nicaragua Captain Alejandro Gabriel: “This is the second time we’ve played against Guatemala. The first time we lost so it means a lot to win the second match and it was really tough. This was an amazing experience for all the players on this team. I hope I get to have this experience again.”

Nicaragua Coach Osman Hernandez: “Before leaving Nicaragua, our goal was to finish at least fifth. So we got our goal. It was really important to win this match because we do not get to play in many tournaments like this. So it was really important for our country that we finished the way we wanted.”

Guatemala Captain Henry Leon: “I think we were overconfident about the game. Last year we beat them 3-0, and it wasn’t really a tight game. I think we were overconfident and we lost concentration. The whole team just failed the test. I think we have to really work for the next tournament, which is next year – the Central American Championship so we can participate in NORCECA again. We were missing two valuable players. But a volleyball team is not made out of two players, it is made of the team. So it is no excuse.”

Guatemala Coach Aldan Palaez: “I could tell before the match that the team was not focused. I tried talking to them, but it didn’t help.”