Nicaragua does not give in to Costa Rica

HAVANA, Cuba, June 26, 2016 – Nicaragua had an uphill struggle, but never gave up and prevailed over Costa Rica in five sets (28-26, 25-20, 13-25, 20-25, 15-13) for their second triumph in Pool A at the NORCECA Boys U-19 Championship.

The winning team asserted itself as Central American champion at this age category where they also defeated the Costa Ricans who finished third in that previous qualifying phase for this NORCECA tournament prior to World Championship in 2017.

Jonny Zeledón (32) was the best scorer of a match that lasted almost two hours, and another outside hitter with double-digits, Byron Hernández (14), contributed to Nicaraguan victory. The winners were superior in attacks (51-44) and blocks (12-6), except in service (3-5).

On  the Costa Rican side, the outside hitters José Andrés Ortiz and Manrique Carazo, with 17 and 14, respectively, reached double figures.

Osma Hernández, coach of Nicaragua, is glad with the actual chance of going through to quarterfinals “we have to work on it as in B Pool the rivals also have strength and height. So if my boys get to win tomorrow it would be a good result as we would be climbing a higher step. They are the ones who deserve the recognition”. 

Captain, Zeledón, one of the tallest starting players (1.79 m) admitted “it was a really hard match. We lost concentration and therefore the point difference we had. However, in the tie-break, we devoted to drive our rivals out of their mind as they approached in the score (14-13) after we had been leading (14-8). Finally we happily knew how to finish the match”.

Arturo Solano, coach of Costa Rica, commented “it constituted a very tough game. Nicaragua is an opponent, from our geographical zone, who has good players; and once more mine were affected by that “roller coaster” of emotions. In the Central American Tournament, we also lost with them in five sets”.

Nicolás Velluti, a middle blocker with good height (1.84), expressed to be happy despite not being able to defeat their rivals and having finished the preliminary phase with three losses “as we confirmed we do know to fight, come from behind and almost win the tie-break. However we are called to keep on learning and working hard”.