Guatemala wins key match over El Salvador

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 27, 2014 – Guatemala pulled an important 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-15) victory over El Salvador on Wednesday to keep alive their aspirations for a podium position in the U23 Men’s Central American Championship taking place at Jose “Beto” Remon Gymnasium.

Carlos Lopez and Gerardo Gonzalez each registered 15 points in the winning cause while Brandon Chinchilla chipped in with 12. El Salvador’s Mauricio Rivas had a match-high 18 points, followed by Rodrigo Chavez and Armando Guatemala with 13 and 11, respectively.

Both teams have now 3-1 win-loss records with Guatemala getting the edge 14 points to 13 of El Salvador. Guatemala plays Nicaragua on Thursday and closes against hosts Panama on Friday. El Salvador meets Costa Rica and Honduras in the next two days.

Reider Lucas, coach of Guatemala, said there were many ups and downs during the match but praised the fighting spirit of his players and the fact of taking advantage of the opponents’ errors.

Ricardo Rivera, coach of El Salvador, said they were not able to win key points to close the sets and blamed the nervousness of the players and lack of teamwork as the cause of the defeat.