PONCE, Puerto Rico, August 29, 2026. – The Dominican Republic defeated Guatemala 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18) on Saturday afternoon to secure fifth place at the NORCECA Men’s Final Six at the Juan “Pachín” Vicéns Auditorium.
With the loss, Guatemala concluded the tournament in sixth place.
The Dominican Republic was led offensively by Moisés Ortiz with 15 points, followed by Cristofer Andújar with 10. Guatemala’s Andy Leonardo Blanco led all scorers with 20 points.
The Dominican Republic held the advantage in attacks 45-39, blocks 4-3, and aces 9-1. Guatemala committed 17 unforced errors and Dominican Republic 18.
Leading two sets to none, the Dominican Republic took control of the third set and built a four-point advantage at 18-14 following a block against José Pablo Pérez and a back-row attack by Wilfrido Hernández. The Dominicans maintained the lead the rest of the way.
An attack error by Jerry Jareth Durán Flores from zone four brought the Dominican Republic to match point at 24-18, before Edwad Domingo Rojas de Jesús sealed the victory with an ace.
Wilfrido Hernández (#4), Dominican Republic
“Well, how can I put it? We came here with a goal. It wasn’t exactly what we had planned, but as we say in the Dominican Republic, fifth is better than sixth. Moving forward, we want to keep improving day by day and see what we can achieve. We’re trying to qualify for the Olympic Qualifier in Canada, which is the last event we have with the national team. We’ll leave everything in God’s hands and hope the team performs well in Canada.”
Christian Saúl Álvarez (#12), Guatemala
“It wasn’t the result we expected, honestly. We came out looking for the win, but it didn’t happen for us today. Now we have to keep working and see what awaits us in Canada for the next tournament and hopefully perform much better than we did here.”
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