Panama edges Nicaragua and finishes third

PANAMA CITY, Panama - October 21, 2017 - Panama outdueled Nicaragua 3-2 (18-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-10, 15-13) in the final match of the XII Central American U19 Volleyball Championship Male, remaining in the third place, behind Costa Rica, champion, and Guatemala.

Panamanian captain Denzel Arboine commanded his team with 20 points, followed by Jose Vásquez with 15 and David NG with 13.

For Nicaragua, Marcial Sandoval got 19 points and José Cano 16.

Panama took advantage of its height to make the difference in the block with 14 points by this way, to 5 of the Nicaraguans, who were outscored in attacks 47-42 and in services 8-6, with equal number of points for errors of the opponent with 37 each.

 "You should never be satisfied with your job, but I'm happy for what the boys did with just under two weeks of work," said Panama coach Eugenio Ortiz.

"It's the first men's medal we got (along with Mercedes Pomares, another Cuban coach) and we think things are going well. At the beginning my players were afflicted because we lost against Guatemala, then we saw that we had a chance for the silver medal. We made some changes and the entry of Ruben Diago lifted the team spirit," Ortiz explained.