Guatemala in the battle for the U23 crown

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 28, 2014 – Defending champions Guatemala jumped into the battle for the crown of the U23 Men’s Central American Championship after blanking Nicaragua 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-14) on Thursday.

The victory gave Guatemala five valuable points to increase their total to 19, one less than the leader Costa Rica. Both teams have 4-1 win-loss records. In the last day of the competition on Friday, Guatemala plays hosts Panama (1-4) while Costa Rica meets Nicaragua (1-4).

Axel Menendez and Leonel Aragon each contributed 9 points in the lopsided victory while Bryan Orozco topped Nicaragua with just five tallies.

En route to the comfortable victory Guatemala scored with 24 attacks, 14 blocks and 7 aces.

Reider Lucas, the Cuban coach of Guatemala, said they respect all the opponents the same so Nicaragua was not an exception and gave credit to the good blocking as the key for the victory.

“The block and serves helped us and the Nicaraguans didn’t have the intensity,” Guatemalan Gerardo Gonzalez said.

Osman Hernandez, coach of Nicaragua said that “unfortunately Guatemala outplayed us in every aspect of the game and the team couldn’t overcome that.”

The captain Alvaro Solis recognized the superiority of the opponent who dominated the whole game.