TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, November 12, 2026. – Belize earned a hard-fought 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23) victory over El Salvador in the last Pool A match of the 21st AFECAVOL Central American U21 Women’s Volleyball Championship. However, the win was not enough to take first place away from El Salvador, which secured a direct berth in the semifinals.
Pool A ended in a three-way tie between El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras, with each team recording one win and one loss. The tiebreaker was decided by points earned, with El Salvador finishing first with six points, followed by Belize with five and Honduras with four.
El Salvador advanced directly to the semifinals alongside Costa Rica, the undefeated leader of Pool B. Meanwhile, Belize will face Guatemala on Friday at 4:30 p.m., while Honduras will take on Nicaragua at 7:00 p.m. in the quarterfinal matches.
Emaun Marín once again led Belize’s offense with 26 points, followed by Kailee Godfrey with 15 and Jamielee Espejo with 12. For El Salvador, Tatiana Gómez was the leading scorer with 20 points, while Evelyn Ramírez added 12 and Galilea Guardado contributed 11.
Belize held a 59-43 advantage in attacks, while El Salvador led 7-5 in blocks and 6-4 in aces. Belize committed 32 unforced errors, compared to 29 by El Salvador.
José Fontes, Belize’s head coach: “I think this tournament has shown how much El Salvador has improved. I am really pleased with the work they are doing, and that also raises the level of volleyball in Central America. We saw how they played against Honduras on the first day, and I am very happy for them because they have already reached the semifinals. Tomorrow, we will face the third-place team from the other group, which I believe will be Guatemala. I think it will be another great match, and that is what matters most.”
Sara Safa, Belize’s captain: “I feel great and very grateful because this team fought hard after losing the third set. We kept pushing even when the score was close. We fought and left everything on the court. I am proud of my team and our coaches. The hardest part was definitely not letting ourselves fall apart, continuing to push, growing, and staying focused on the game. When we fall behind in points, we can also fall behind mentally, so we need to stay strong to keep going.”
Dany Calderón, El Salvador’s head coach: “The advantage of this group format is that we knew winning just one set would secure first place in the group, but nobody likes to lose. I think we had what it took to win, but unfortunately, not everyone was able to match the level of play we showed against Honduras. In that match, we played as a team, and everyone contributed. Today, we had almost just one player carrying the team. I hope they understand that they all need to contribute and be on the same page.”
Evelyn Ramírez, El Salvador’s captain: “We are really happy to have reached the semifinals. In today’s match, we realized that we made too many mistakes and lacked communication on the court. Hopefully, we can improve those aspects in our next match.”