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Tegucigalpa, Honduras; July 28, 2022.- Nicaragua
fought to win 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22,
15-11) against a combative Guatemala in the
second match of the first day of the V Central
American Championship Women's Afecavol U23.
Guatemala, which comes from being champion in
the U21 category with the most players, began
dominant in all sets, but the Nicaraguans
managed to overcome that disadvantage to prevail
thanks to the performance of Gilmary Smith with
17 points, 16 from Maria Belén Arcia and 13 from
Massiel Brenes.
Meanwhile, Guatemala had its captain Naomi
Monney with 23 points, while her teammate Andrea
Mendizabal contributed 15 units.
Nicaragua was better 10-8 in serves, but was
outscored 11-8 in blocks and 50-49 in spikes,
with 41 errors from Guatemala to 34 from the
winners.
María Belén Arcia, captain of Nicaragua: “We are
very happy to have won, it was a very difficult
game, Guatemala is a team that defends a lot,
but we were always there, animated, showing the
claw and attitude of fighting all the way until
the end. We bonded as a team and worked well as
a team."
Claudia Noguera, coach of Nicaragua: "Guatemala
was a very difficult team, with most of the
players who were champions in the sub 21
category, but I think we have a good level, the
Nicaraguan team showed grit, a lot of
concentration and dedication in the game. We
were down and we knew how to swim against the
current, but it can't continue, because we can't
let the rival take much of the lead”.
Naomi Monney, captain of Guatemala: “We played a
good game, we gave everything until the last
point, but I think we could have given more to
win that game. We are not going to give up, we
will go with everything in the next matches and
if we have to go to five sets in all of them,
then we will play them and give everything on
the court”.
William Fernández, coach of Guatemala: “This is
what was expected of the tournament, a very
close match, congratulations to Nicaragua who
knew how to close the game correctly today and
to our team who gave their best effort. We know
that the event would be very difficult because
our team is very young, but that is not
justification, Nicaragua beat us very well”.
Nicaragua will play this Friday at 2:00 p.m.
against Panama, and Guatemala at 7:00 p.m.
Honduras are measured. |
