Nicaragua Secures Semifinal Spot at the

AFECAVOL U23 Central American Championship

CHIRIQUÍ, Panama, September 17, 2025.– Nicaragua defeated El Salvador 3-1 (25-14, 25-18, 18-25, 25-18) to secure one of the two semifinal spots at the VII AFECAVOL U23 Central American Championship, improving their record to 2-0 in Pool B play.

Nicaragua still has one match left against Costa Rica in the final day of pool play, a duel that will determine the first-place finisher in the group.

El Salvador, winless in two outings, will face Honduras on the last day of pool play to determine the remaining Pool B positions.

It was not an easy match for the Salvadoran side, who took time to find their best rhythm.

ÁLBUM NCA VS ESA

Nicaragua outperformed El Salvador in attack points 49-44 and blocking 10-7, while both teams were tied in service points 2-2.

El Salvador’s efforts were caught up by unforced errors, committing 32 compared to Nicaragua’s 22.

Jesy Umaña led Nicaragua’s offense with 23 points, supported by Yader León with 14 points.

For El Salvador, Abner Cano was the top scorer with 20 points, followed by Andrés Reyes with 12.

After the win, Nicaraguan team captain Josué Blandón said: “We are happy with this result. Even though El Salvador was a tough team, we were able to get the victory a bit more comfortably. Our coach made the necessary changes when the match got complicated for us, and honestly, our bench did its job to secure the win.”

Meanwhile, El Salvador captain Andrés Reyes commented: “We knew the match against Nicaragua was very important, especially after losing our first one. At the beginning, we started off discouraged and with little focus, but when we managed to win the third set, the team’s spirit was lifted. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make things work, and we lost the last set because of some small mistakes we made.