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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, August 21, 2022. The
Nicaraguan National Team is the new U23 Champion
by leading the standings with five victories in
the V Central American U23 Championship.
The first match of the last day of the
tournament would end 3-1 with partial
25-23/25-16/20-25/25-21 in favor of Nicaragua
against Costa Rica.
The Nicaraguans only needed to win a set in the
match they would play on the last day against
Costa Rica and they would do so after winning
the first set 25-23.
Nicaragua would start the second set knowing
they were Cup champions and with their
adrenaline pumping, they would also leave this
set with a wide 25-16 advantage.
Costa Rica, for its part, would not lower its
arms, it would come out determined to extinguish
the celebration of the champions in the third
set, the Costa Ricans would be more compacted on
the court and they would leave the third set
25-20, forcing the fourth set.
For this set, both teams would show their best
weapons, in a very close set, which would end
with Nicaragua winning 25-21.
With this result, Nicaragua confirms its
supremacy in the 2022 tournament, winning
undefeated and achieving the title of this
category for the first time.
The best scorer for the new champions was
Jefferson Cascante with 16 points. For his part
in Costa Rica, the Captain, Josué Rojas got 25
points.
Nicaragua led attacks 51-50, as well as services
6-5. While both squads tied at 12 blocks.
Nicaragua achieved 26 points due to opponent
errors and Costa Rica 18.
statements
Arturo Solano, coach of Costa Rica: “Evaluating
the tournament, it was a very difficult one for
us, it was difficult for us to find a game
rhythm, we found it in two games and in the last
one we got the Tournament Champion and now we
wait for results to see if we can enter the
medal table”.
John Morales, Captain of Nicaragua: “We as
players feel very proud to make Nicaragua
champion for the first time in a Central
American U23 tournament. Taking away Guatemala's
undefeated record after having been a four-time
champion, now we are the new champions. It was
hard, it wasn't easy for us, we killed ourselves
training every day, even in the tournament
things were complicated for us but we always
knew how to pull it off. We thank our coaches
for the confidence they gave to each of the 14
who are here and nothing else to celebrate now
and thank God".
Jorge Mena, coach of Nicaragua: "Champion in
this category for the first time in the history
of Nicaragua, since we arrived in El Salvador,
we came with a positive mentality that we came
to win but we were going to go game by game and
some things got complicated." matches, but key
games, against Guatemala the next day we had the
best match of the tournament that we played
against El Salvador, five dramatic sets and
after the others it was to win them comfortably,
in the end the last game with Costa Rica was
complicated for us little but we knew that if we
took a set from the Ticos we were going to be
champions anyway, but we didn't want to lose a
game, thank God we got the result and we are
champions. We dedicate this award to all the
people who have supported us in Nicaragua.” |
