Haiti took Nicaragua by surprise at U21 Pan American Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, October 5, 2022.- Haiti took Nicaragua by surprised beating them in four sets (18-25, 25-9, 26-24, 25-21) finishing pool-play with one win and two losses in pool B of the Men’s U21 Pan American Cup.

The Caribbean team never stopped pressing in offense and shut down their opponents to finish with advantages in attacks (54-37) and blocks (10-1) and were outnumbered in serves (2-8) committing mor unforced errors (33-28) than the Central American team, who ended pool-play with three losses, in same number of outings.

Opposite hitter Estakend Beauvoi was productive in scoring 26 points, leading scorer of his team and of the match, while outside hitter Dieulengy Relis contributed to the winning team with 19 tallies. For the opponents, scoring double digits was opposite hitter Víctor Ariel Cruz (19) and outside hitter Josué Blandon (12).      

Junior Siecle, head coach of Haiti explained “we prepared physically and technically, supported on triple blocking and behind the short defense, taking in account our opponents’ characteristics. The rest was a lot of energy. I am happy but our goal is to finish among the top six to rise in Norceca tournaments. We know the road is hard, but we are up for it, and we will continue to battle”.

Dieulengy Relis, captain of Haiti expressed “we are happy, but this victory is based on our little preparation, nevertheless we have seen we can face teams with higher level and despite everything we haven’t given up our weapons. We will continue to see up to where we can advance”.

Jorge Mena, head coach of Nicaragua, commented “we needed to win this match, my boys were overconfident after winning the first set and from there they fell apart. They were damaged mentally and couldn’t stand up. After two good matches against Canada and Cuba losing this way, we are really surprised, but I admit Haiti’s strength is bigger, ours is not that overwhelming”.

Víctor Ariel Cruz said, “sadly we couldn’t have the result, we couldn’t give the maximum effort, our reception was weak and we weren’t determined in attacks, but from our losses we will take the positive”.