PARAMARIBO, Suriname, September 18, 2024.- Guatemala made it to the semifinals of the U23 Men’s Pan American Cup being held at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo after winning Pool Be.
Guatemala defeated St. Vincent and the Grenadines 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-17) in their last match of pool-play. Guatemala closed with a 3-0 record. St. Vincent (0-3) will compete for positions 5 to 8.
Guatemala was superior in kills (37-16) and in service aces (5-2). Guatemala scored on 28 opponent errors and gave away 17.
Yeferson Zavala of Guatemala was the only player with double digits scoring 12 points on 11 kills and one block. Also contributing to the win were Roberto Recinos with 9 points and Christian Alvarez with 8.
The best scorer for St. Vincent was Damari Frederick with 7 points.
Guatemala controlled the game from start to finish, using all its players.
Reider Lucas Mora, Head coach of Guatemala: “Our goal was to win the pool. Against Peru we expected an even match, and we were able to get the result. The Suriname players were the hosts, and they have athletes with great potential, they didn’t make it easy, I was satisfied. And today, we were aiming for 3-0, we accomplished it. We advance to semifinals, and we want to enjoy them, playing the best we can”.
Daryl Franklyn, Head coach of St. Vincent: “I don’t think the guys played today at their full potential. As I said before, coming into the competition we lost a lot of players, so the chemistry amongst the guys was really bad. I think they could have done much better. Hopefully the guys can pull it together for our next matches and we can play for a higher position in the competition”.
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