CHITRÉ, Panama, October 16, 2024.- El Salvador captured their first win in the 20th AFECAVOL Central American Men’s U21 Championship by defeating Honduras 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-14) at the Papa Francisco Gymnasium in Chitré, Panama.
With the victory, El Salvador improved their record to 1-4 and will face Belize (3-2) on the final day of competition at 2:00 pm. Honduras finished the tournament with a 6-0 record.
In just over an hour (1:08) El Salvador outscored Honduras in attacks 28-26 and in serves 9-1. Both teams scored 4 blocking points. El Salvador capitalized on 34 points from Honduran errors, while committing 14.
In El Salvador’s victory, Ricardo Alegría, Abner Cano, and Julio Jiménez contributed 9, 8, and 7 points, respectively.
Outside hitter Fernando Herrera led all scorers with 12 points, all from kills, followed by team captain Jonathan Meza with 11 points.
Abner Cano, captain of El Salvador: “We haven’t performed well in this tournament. Today, we managed to win against Honduras, which is a good team. We won 3-0, and we’re happy. Tomorrow we’ll finish the tournament facing Belize, and we’ll try to win so we don’t leave with only one victory”.
Jonathan Meza, captain of Honduras: “Unfortunately, we couldn’t win. We didn’t accomplish our goals. From the beginning of the tournament, we had some issues with certain players, and our plan didn’t work. This is the result of each player not fulfilling their responsibilities”.