Nicaragua wins duel over Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, August 12, 2014.- Nicaragua beat host Honduras 3-1 ( 25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 25-23) in the closing match of Tuesday night at the II Women’s U-23 AFECAVOL Central American Championship at Jorge A. Galeano Gymnasium in Tegucigalpa.

It was an exciting duel with long rallies and strategic game plans from both sides in front of more than eight hundred spectators cheering for the home team. Honduras took the lead in the last two sets which they weren’t able to sustain as Nicaragua’s superiority in kills turned the scores around.

This was Nicaragua’s last match and they finish the tournament with a 5-2 win-loss record adding a total of 22 points, to win the silver medal. The home team stands with a 2-3 record and 11 points, they face Belize tomorrow.

Nicaragua held advantage of 45-32 in kills, 11-10 in blocks and they benefited from their opponents 40 errors. El Salvador held advantage in aces by 4-3 and they benefited from Nicaragua’s 46 errors.

Nicaragua’s outside hitter Florelisa Smith had a match high with 26 points, 25 were in kills and Katy Gonzalez contributed with 11 points. Top scorers for Honduras were Lesby Midence with 13 points, Dariana Flores and Mairajosse Diaz with 12 tallies apiece.

Katy Gonzalez, captain of Nicaragua said “this was an important match for us as the result defined our final position in the tournament. Honduras is a very competitive team and they challenged us, I know my team lost points to many unforced errors but we are finishing stronger”.

Eloisa Sarmiento, captain of Honduras said her team had too many ups and downs “the team is still missing more concentration to sustain the advantage in our scores and the same energy throughout the match. We prepared well to face Nicaragua but there were many surprises”.

“We reach our goal; we’re taking home the silver medal. Facing the home team wasn’t easy, they pushed very hard and with the very noisy the crowd my girls couldn’t concentrate the whole match. Now we need to continue practicing so this group can be part of our senior national team” said coach Claudia Noguera.

“Our team has prepared well tactically and physically, but we didn’t have friendly matches which are important to solve situations that are presented during the course of a match and to achieve experience” said coach Marco Tejada.