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GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, October 30, 2021. -
Nicaragua beat Belize in a hard fought battle of
four sets 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23) on
opening day of the twenty first Men’s Central
American Cup at Guatemala’s City Dome.
Nicaragua won their opening match prevailing
over Belize with very close scores throughout
the game. Nicaragua recovered from a five-point
deficit (16-21) to win an extended first set.
Belizeans came out stronger in the second with
top scorers Karim Coleman, Francis Hauze and
Bryton Codd offense over the net. Nicaraguans
reaction in the last two sets neutralized their
opponent that kept the scores always close and
tied on numerous occasions.
Nicaragua benefited from 31 Belizean errors
while committing 21. Belize led 59-55 in attacks
and by a huge 12-6 margin in blocks; Nicaragua
performed better in serves with 4-2 advantage.
Nicaragua’s leading scorers were opposite hitter
Axel Gutierrez with 21 points, who made his
senior debut, outside hitter Jonny Zeledon added
17 points, including 3 aces and outside hitter
Byron Hernández contributed with 16 points.
Belizean opposite hitter Karym Coleman scored
impressive 30 points all on kills, followed by
outside hitter Francis Hauze with 18 points
including 5 blocks and Bryton Codd tallied 15
points including 2 aces.
Nicaragua rests on Saturday while Belize faces
El Salvador at 4:00pm
Axel Gutiérrez, leading scorer Nicaragua: “I
feel proud of contributing with Nicaragua, I am
satisfied that things came out well. Our coach
adjusted our blocking to stop Coleman who
usually doesn’t attack to the line and that gave
us the victory”.
Karym Coleman, top scorer of Belize: “We decided
to focus on the things we weren’t doing
correctly, but for the most part we haven’t been
training together because a lot of us are
studying abroad, I came in this morning. This
game is just showing we are trying to get a
rhythm with the rest of the team but I think
we’re going to get better, trust each other more
and get stronger”. |
