Honduras zeroing in on Central American title

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, February 7, 2013 - Honduras prevailed over El Salvador in straight sets to remain undefeated while Guatemala took an important victory over Nicaragua moving on to second place at the XVII Men’s Central American Volleyball Cup.

Honduras is closer to become the Central American title as they have 17 points in first place. Guatemala is now in second place with 15 points while Costa Rica and Panama are tied with 14 points.

In the last day of actions on Friday, Honduras meets Panama and hosts Guatemala face Costa Rica.

Honduras 3, El Salvador 0

Honduras beat El Salvador 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-16) in the first match on Thursday, the fourth day of actions of the championship. Honduras continues unbeaten with strong possibilities to become champions with 17 points. They were superior in aces by 5-1. Fabrizzio Matamoros and Wilfredo Lopez with 12 points apiece, along with Evans Torres with 10, were Honduras’ best scorers. Samuel Valdez of El Salvador was the highest scorer with 10 points.

Costa Rica 3, Panamá 2

Richard Smith registered a tournament-high 31 points to lead Costa Rica in the 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 26-24, 15-10) victory over Panama. Costa Rica edged Panama with a well structured defense stopping Panama’s blocking effectiveness which had a 16-9 advantage over the winners. Both teams have 14 points, Costa Rica with a better win-loss record by 3-1 while Panama has 2-2. Of the 31 points scored by Richard Smith, 29 were on direct attacks; Jeffrey Calderon was the other player of Costa Rica with double digits (14). For Panama, Domingo Avila was the best scorer with 19 points, including two aces.

Guatemala 3, Nicaragua 0

Guatemala blanked Nicaragua 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-14) on Thursday night. The home team took control of the match from start to finish. Guatemala held the advantage over Nicaragua in all categories: blocking (7-3), aces (5-1) and attacks (37-17). Guatemala has a 3-1 win-loss record and added 5 valuable points to add up to 15. Guatemala’s best scorers were Andy Leonardo with 12 points, 4 of them aces, and Oscar Garcia with 11 points.