Nicaragua defeats El Salvador on opening day of the U17 Championship

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, September 24, 2024. - Nicaragua opened with a 3-0 victory (25-12, 25-09, 25-19) against El Salvador in the closing match of the first day of the AFECAVOL U17 Central American Girls’ Championship.

The home team took advantage of their strong serve, scoring 16 points, with Brisa Bermúdez contributing 5 aces and Emely Gutiérrez adding three more. Nicaragua dominated in serving 16-2, in attacking 32-20, and 3-1 in blocking, also benefiting from 24 opponent errors, compared to their own 17.

Gutiérrez finished with nine points for Nicaragua, while Lucía Columna, Brisa Bermúdez, and Karen Bird each tallied eight points. For El Salvador, Tatiana Gómez scored five points.

On Wednesday, during the second day, El Salvador faces Costa Rica at 4:00 p.m., and Nicaragua will play against Honduras at 6:30 p.m.

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Claudia Noguera, coach of Nicaragua: “At the beginning, the girls were a bit nervous, but that’s normal in this age group. Later, they started to focus well, began doing their job, and played as they are used to. This victory is important because it’s positive for the team to get a good result on the first day. This game gave us the opportunity to see what options we have for the upcoming matches. We know this age group is very evenly matched, and we will always focus on each game”.

Pedro Rivas, coach of El Salvador: “Honestly, the work we did with the girls paid off. We started with an advantage against Nicaragua, but like all the teams in this tournament, these are girls playing for the first time, almost 80% of the team, and in the end, it takes its toll. The anxiety of the Salvadoran girls caused them to make mistakes, but I think the first and third sets were of a good level. In the second set, our team dropped a lot emotionally, but we managed to lift it in the third set, almost forcing a fourth”.