Panama suffers fourth loss at home

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 27, 2014 – Hosts Panama suffered their fourth loss in five outings in the U23 Men’s Central American Championship as their hopes of a podium position vanished away on Wednesday at José “Beto” Remon Gymnasium.

Nicaragua, winless entering the last match of the day, claimed a well fought victory in four sets 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 20-25, 25-22) in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Jonathan Tuckler led all the players in the match with 20 points for Nicaragua followed by Bryan Orozco with 10 points in the winning effort. Angel Beitia and Jose Gonzalez tallied 17 and 11 points, respectively, for Panama.

The Nicaraguan Orozco said his teammates were able to connect looking for their best form and were hungry for the win against the home side. The coach Osman Hernandez was pleased with the performance of his outside hitters.

Eric Lucero, coach of Panama, was visibly resigned while saying they were close to keeping alive the chances of a third place but unfortunately things didn’t come to our favor. Setter Juan Gonzalez said he hopes to leave the competition with a victory against Guatemala on Friday.