Panama Close to the Title at the AFECAVOL U19 Central American Championship

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, December 13, 2024. - Panama defeated El Salvador 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-17) and is just one step away from securing the title at the XV AFECAVOL U19 Central American Men’s Volleyball Championship, achieving their fifth consecutive win in the tournament.

Panama holds a 5-0 win-loss record with 23 points, placing them in second position. To clinch the championship, they must prevail in their final match against Guatemala on the seventh and final day of the tournament.

Currently, Costa Rica leads the standings with a 5-1 record and 25 points, while Guatemala sits in third place with a 4-1 record and 19 points.

In their match against El Salvador, Panama faced little resistance on their way to victory, outperforming their opponent in attack points 30-29, in blocks 8-4, and service aces 5-0. They also committed fewer unforced errors, conceding 15 points compared to El Salvador’s 32.

ÁLBUM PAN VS ESA

Panama’s best attacker was Víctor Pérez, who scored 14 points, while Víctor Araúz contributed 10. For El Salvador, Rafael Vargas finished with 10 points.

Reflecting on the win, Panama’s head coach, Horacio Angulo, said: “In our final match, we’ll face a very experienced team like Guatemala. It won’t be an easy game, but we’ll stick to what has worked for us so far. We knew El Salvador would try to complicate things in the first set, every team has tried to do that, but we made the necessary adjustments in some positions, and it worked.”

El Salvador’s head coach, Guillermo Polanco, commented: “We had a very poor performance in serving and receiving. That said, in this match, we gave an opportunity to a couple of very young players, and they performed quite well. Now we’ll fight for fourth place, and we’ll do it with dignity to secure that position.”