Nicaragua defeats El Salvador 3-0 in title defense opener

David, Chiriquí, Panama, September 24, 2023 - Nicaragua began with a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-16, 25-18) over El Salvador in the second match of the opening day of the VI AFECAVOL Men’s U23 Central American Championship at the La Basita Sports Center.

Defending champion Nicaragua was strong in blocking with a 9-3 advantage, they also led 5-2 in service points and 28-25 in attacks. El Salvador committed 33 unforced errors, while Nicaragua had 23.

Josué Blandón scored 10 points for Nicaragua, while Gustavo Ortiz secured eight for El Salvador.

El Salvador will face Belize on Monday at 2:30 p.m. (Panama time), and Nicaragua will go up against Guatemala at 7:30 p.m.

AFECAVOL SUB23 MASCULINO, PANAMÁ

QUOTES

Jorge Mena, coach of Nicaragua: “Today is a bittersweet day because we don’t know if our opposite player (Yerick García) who got injured today will continue, and we had to win the match, and that was the objective. Let’s see what awaits us tomorrow; we can only take it one game at a time”.

Rafael Hernández, captain of Nicaragua: “We did well today; the team achieved the objective even though El Salvador put up a fight. I think the best thing we had and what helped us a lot was our reception, which allowed us to have a strong attack”.

Andrea Genova, coach of El Salvador: “Our team had a long journey; they even canceled our flight, and we arrived yesterday with little rest. I believe this is normal with a young team that needs more time to improve. As the tournament progresses, we will see a better team”.