Valdez carries El Salvador to second victory

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, November 13, 2013.-  Captain Samuel Valdez scored a tournament high (25 points) to carry El Salvador to its second victory at the 15th Boy’s U21 Central American Championship, beating Guatemala 3-1 (20-25, 28-26, 23-25, 20-25).

An outstanding performance from Valdez was Wednesday’s night cap for the home team to down defending champions Guatemala. Valdez scored 25 points, 22 in kills, joined by teammates Oscar Gil with 14 points, Mauricio Rivas and with Erick Menjivar with 13 points apiece.

Things came down hill for Guatemala after suffering the loss in the second set of opposite player John Leon after a knee injury. Top scorer for Guatemala was opposite Luis Ovalle with 14 points and Juan Rodas contributed with 11 points.

El Salvador held a huge advantage in blocking by 14-4 and 7-1 in aces, dismantling Guatemala’s offensive over the net. El Salvador stands with a 2-0 record and Guatemala with 1-1.

Samuel Valdez expressed his gratitude for the crowd “they were our motivation in this difficult and battled match; Guatemala is a tough opponent and we gave our maximum effort to beat them.”

“El Salvador played excellent, they deserved to win. As for us, we lost concentration after John was carried out the court and we hope he gets better soon. The tournament hasn’t finished for us yet” expressed captain Juan Jose Gonzalez.

Coach Ricardo Rivera of El Salvador spoke about his key players “Valdez, Rivas and Gil played perfect. Guatemala lost their moral losing Leon while El Salvador got stronger with each point scored. This opens a new path for us because we haven’t beaten Guatemala for many years”.

“First I want to say I’m sad” said Alvinzi Pelaez. “The match had a tight score, I believe either one could have won; my team is mostly under 19 years old so I’m proud how the pressured El Salvador that played effectively. We are obligated to win all our matches and wait for results” said coach Alvinzi Pelaez.