Honduras unstoppable at Men’s Central American Cup

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, February 6, 2013. - Honduras prevailed in a close four-set battle against Costa Rica to remain as the only undefeated team after three days of actions in the XVII Men’s Central American Volleyball Cup.

Four sides are separated by just two points and all keep alive their chances to win the title as Honduras and Panama are tied with 12 points followed by Costa Rica and Guatemala with 11 and 10 points respectively.

In Thursday’s action, Honduras meets El Salvador while Panama takes on Costa Rica followed by the match of hosts Guatemala against Nicaragua.

Panama 3, Nicaragua 0

Panama scored its second victory defeating Nicaragua by 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-21) on Wednesday. Panama started off slowly to improve their win-loss record 2-1, while Nicaragua remained winless. Once again Panama’s blocking made the difference with a 14-3 advantage. Domingo Avila was Panama’s top scorer with 10 points, and for Nicaragua, the best was Tito Valdivia with nine.

Honduras 3, Costa Rica 1

Honduras took a huge win over Costa Rica by 3-1 (27-25, 30-28, 17-25, 27-25). Honduras’ concentration was the main factor for their victory to stay undefeated, while Costa Rica dropped their win-loss record to 2-1. Costa Rica dominated in both blocking and aces 14-6 and 6-1 respectively. The second set of the match (30-28) is up to now the highest scoring set of the tournament. Evans Torres with 20 points and Carlos Osorio with 19 topped Honduras’ scorers. Richard Smith from Costa Rica was their best scorer with 20 points.

Guatemala 3, El Salvador 0

Guatemala prevailed over El Salvador in straight sets 25-18, 25-20 and 25-18 in the last match of the day. For Guatemala it was their second win, improving to 2-1 their win-loss record in front of more than a thousand spectators. It was a battle of young players, as El Salvador presents a renovated team for the tournament and the hosts gave a chance to their bench players. Guatemala held a 5-1 advantage in aces. With 10 points won by attacks, Oscar Garcia was Guatemala’s best scorer, Andy Leonardo and Moises Reyes each contributed 8. Franklin Flores topped for El Salvador with 7 points.