Panama defeats El Salvador in five sets

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, August 30, 2015. - Panama defeated El Salvador 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-22, 26-24, 16-14) with an intense battle at the Men’s U-21 XVI Central American Championship.

Panama left El Salvador empty handed while recovering from a 0-2 deficit, they improve their win-loss record 2-1, for a total of 7 points. El Salvador loses again in five sets and continues win-less 0-2 with 4 points.

In the first set both teams were avoiding mistakes, El Salvador held a five point advantage 18-13 that Panama fought to reduce, finally the home team won 25-23.

  Panama was more effective in all senses in the second set, while El Salvador seemed lost, they recovered and always kept the scores close but the game began to get heated. Coach Horacio Angulo of Panama was sanctioned with a red card and a yellow one for misconduct when they led 21-18; El Salvador finished 25-20. The offensive lines from both side never gave up in the third set and Panama won 25-22. Honduras scored on El Salvador’s errors for an advantage of six points in the fourth set; El Salvador forced longer rallies to reach a tie at 20-20 but Honduras extended to a tie-breaker while winning 26-24. Panama held a four point advantage in the fifth with great effort, while El Salvador reduced the distance with Panama’s errors, but Panama won 16-14.

Panama’s blocking (16-6) was essential for their victory; the also prevailed in spikes 48-44. In aces El Salvador topped 4-3. Panama had more errors (56-43).

Middle Blocker Jose Anguizola scored 24 points, 18 on spikes, 4 on blocks and 2 aces; his teammates Drayan Bouche and Uriel Batista added 13 points apiece. Rodrigo Sandoval of El Salvador was the best scorer with 25 points, 21 on spikes and 4 aces, followed by Gustavo Alvarado with 12 points and Christopher Zelaya with 10.

“In my opinion I wasn’t going to lose because of the bad refereeing, it wasn’t fair. We had ups and downs in our performance, but our energy was always high” said Panama’s captain Uriel Batista.

For Cristian Varga the loss is hard “we weren’t able to score in key moments, each player has to take responsibility while performing. Unfortunately we weren’t able to win, but that’s how sports work”.

Coach Horacio Angulo of Panama said “the refereeing wasn’t balanced the same way. I overcame my frustration to control my boys and we performed as we should have at the end. Anguizola didn’t play well against Costa Rica but today he had a great game. The championship isn’t decided yet and we hope to be among the medalists”.

Coach Ricardo Rivera of El Salvador expressed “the team is too anxious to win and they aren’t able to control their actions to finish the match, they are afraid before reaching the finish line. Panama is immensely tough and someone had to win. Now we must think about tomorrow”.