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SANTA ROSA DE COPAN, Honduras, September 13,
2022.-
Nicaragua came from behind to beat Belize 3-2
(15-25, 19-25, 25-23, 29-27, 15-13) at the XIV
Boys’ U19 Central American Championship of
AFECAVOL being played at the Santa Rosa de Copan
Gymnasium.
Nicaragua improved their record 2-1 with a total
of eight points; Belize dropped their record 2-1
and has nine points.
Nicaragua lost its outside hitter Evans Solís
who suffered an injury on the head during the
second set, but it wasn’t an obstacle to stop
Belize’s strength. Before their dramatic win,
Belize lost two match points in the fourth set
(26-25 y 27-25), while Nicaragua failed two set
points to reach the tie-break (24-23 y 25-24).
Niaragua’s blocking prevailed that of Belize
13-6, as well as service points 4-3, committing
48 unforced errors. Belize was superior in
attacks 56-36 and committed a total of 50
errors.
Opposite hitter Víctor Bermudez led Nicaragua’s
attack with 13 points from 12 kills and one
block. Setter Cristhoper Castillo and middle
blocker Edu Urbina added 11 points each.
Outside hitter Eleazar Mejia of Belize led all
scorers with 32 points, the most in the
tournament. Outside hitter Malcolm Murillo and
opposite hitter Preston Smith scored 11 points
each.
On Wednesday Nicaragua (2-1) will play El
Salvador (1-2) and Belize (2-1) will meet Costa
Rica (2-0).
Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua:
“My team is young, so they still commit errors
on the net and that led us to reach five sets.
My boys responded well, we came back from 0-2,
the changes worked out well and that puts us in
the fight. That’s why I say it’s one match at a
time”.
Albert Humes, head coach of Belize:
“I am proud of my guys, they worked hard. I
think one of our biggest problems today were our
errors at the run and service at the time that
we needed; it also showed that we need more
practice matches in this kind of situation
because the guys got tense which caused them to
be tentative and that gave Nicaragua the
momentum to build”. |
