Tegucigalpa, Honduras. June 26, 2024: Costa Rica defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 26-24), re-entering the race for medals at the VI Central American Women’s U23 Championship, at the Jorge Galeano Gymnasium.
The victory keeps Costa Rica’s hopes alive and puts Guatemala in a tough spot, as they now no longer solely control their path to the Gold medal match. A loss to Nicaragua tomorrow could even push them off the podium.
Costa Rica improved their record to 3-2 and will face Honduras on Saturday. Guatemala now stands at 4-1 and will face Nicaragua.
Costa Rica surpassed in serves, leading 6-0, while Guatemala missed 7 serves. The differences in attack and blocking were small, yet still in favor of Costa Rica, at 37-35 and 8-5, respectively.
Ana Victoria Rojas from Costa Rica dominated the game, being the most effective scorer with 19 points. Nhya Barley assisted with 12 points, including 4 on serves and 2 on blocks. For Guatemala, Ivana Sopegno was their best attacker with 12 points, and Naomi Monney contributed 9.
Ana Victoria Rojas of Costa Rica said, “Thank God we were able to win 3-0 today. This result puts us back in the competition. We now have the chance to fight for the Silver medal, and that’s what we’ll aim for tomorrow when we play against Honduras. Today, the team had great energy; we worked together, and that helped us secure the victory.”
Guatemala’s coach, William Fernández, commented, “The team did not meet the expectations for this game. They started well in the first set, but after Costa Rica came back, they couldn’t recover psychologically, losing confidence in themselves. Now we have to fight back tomorrow.”
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