CHITRÉ, Panama, October 11, 2024.- Guatemala kicked off the 20th AFECAVOL U21 Men’s Central American Championship with a straight-set victory 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-22) over El Salvador at the Papa Francisco Gymnasium.
Guatemala topped in attacks (45-39) and serving (3-2), benefiting from 24 opponent errors compared to their 18. El Salvador dominated in blocking (10-4).
Outside hitters Roberto Recinos and Yeferson Zavala led Guatemala with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Three players from El Salvador scored in double digits: Ricardo Alegría (16), Abner Cano (14), and Julio César Jiménez (11).
On the second day of competition, Guatemala (1-0) will face Honduras (5:30 pm local time), while El Salvador (0-1) will play Panama (8:00 pm local time).
After reaching a 17-point tie in the second set, El Salvador stayed ahead and reached set point (24-23), but Guatemala didn’t give in and with two attacks maintained control of the match, leading 2-0.The defending champion managed to recover from a four-point deficit (11-15) in the third set, tying the game at 19 points before maintaining the lead to secure the victory.
Yeferson Zavala, captain of Guatemala: “It was a very exciting match against El Salvador to start the tournament. It’s just the beginning, and thanks to God, we took a good step by closing the match 3-0. El Salvador has a good, competitive team. What helped us was being able to close the sets and bring emotional stability to the team because at times we lost it.”
Abner Cano, captain of El Salvador: “We didn’t get a good result against Guatemala. Our inability to close the sets and the lack of experience of many players cost us the match. We will keep moving forward because we came here to win, and we won’t leave this tournament empty-handed.”
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