El Salvador upsets Panama

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, December 3, 2012 - El Salvador scored the first surprise of the XVII Central American Women’s Volleyball Cup by defeating vice champions Panama 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-20, 25-19) while Costa Rica and Nicaragua also opened with victories.

The Salvadoran Federation Volleyball Gymnasium resulted too small to accommodate the number of fans who came in to support the home team, which took the victory thanks to Diana Romero’s performance with 15 points and nine from captain Adriana Flores, while Panama’s Hashlyn Cuero stood out with 16 points.

Flores, the captain of El Salvador, said:  "We knew it would be a demanding game one where we would have to work hard to move forward. We took advantage of their mistakes. We also had strength in the services which took us afloat in difficult times as well as fans support. "

Meanwhile, Costa Rica, the current monarch of the area, managed a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18) over Guatemala.

Karen Cope with 20 points was the best for the Costa Rican team and Verania Willis had 19 units. For Guatemala, Ruth Gomez left with 10 points and nine Diana Arias.

Nicaragua, third in the last tournament held in Panama, easily beat Honduras 3-0 with scores of 25-14, 25-16 and 25-11.

Facing a young Honduran team, the selection of Nicaragua looked calm with a good attack from the captain Claudia Noguera with 11 points and 10 from Valeska Hernandez. Honduras had her captain Tessa Flores as their top scorer with seven points.

Tuesday’s matches start at 3:00 p.m. with Costa Rica facing Nicaragua, followed by Honduras against Panama and the main event at 7:00 p.m. between El Salvador and Guatemala.