David, Chiriquí, Panama, September 27, 2023 – Guatemala reached three victories with zero losses after prevailing over El Salvador 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-21) on the fourth day of the VI AFECAVOL Men’s U23 Central American Championship at La Basita Sports Center.
Guatemala was trailing from the beginning set with a four-point deficit 8-12 but managed to take the lead when they reached the technical timeout at 16-12 without any response from El Salvador, maintaining the advantage until the end.
Guatemala capitalized on scoring 30 points from El Salvador’s errors and gave up 18. The match was balanced with a 36-34 advantage in attacks for Guatemala, both teams tied at 6 in blocks and 3 in points from serves.
José Pablo Pérez was Guatemala’s top scorer with 12 points, followed by Jason Hernández who added 10. For El Salvador, Julio Hunter scored 12 points, while Abner Cano and Douglas Gómez each scored 10 points.
Guatemala remains the only undefeated team in the tournament, while El Salvador holds a 2-2 record. On Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (Panama time), Guatemala will face Costa Rica, while El Salvador will have a rest day.
AFECAVOL SUB23 MASCULINO, PANAMÁ
QUOTES
Reider Lucas, coach of Guatemala: “El Salvador put us in a tight spot; they started playing a more effective game, but once again, we managed to balance, come back, and win the match. The truth is that these five points help us a lot in the standings. We still have half of the championship left, and we want to take it one game at a time to see how we progress in the competition”.
Jason Hernández, middle blocker of Guatemala: “We reached the goal of winning in three sets, which leaves us quite satisfied because it was our main objective. Now, we need to make the most of the rest day because we have another demanding match ahead, and we need to be in the best condition. We must be very aware of what we do in each game and make the most of the rest periods. We already have 13 sets under our belt halfway through the tournament”.
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