SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, September 25, 2026.- Mexico defeated El Salvador 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-20) to advance to the semifinals of the Men’s U23 Pan American Cup in San Salvador.
On Saturday, Mexico will face the United States at 5:00 p.m. in the first semifinal, while Guatemala will meet Costa Rica in a Central American showdown at 7:00 p.m. in the second semifinal. The seventh-place match between Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago will be played at 3:00 p.m.
El Salvador put up strong resistance against Mexico’s offense early in the first set, but after the opening points, Mexico began to pull away with a more effective attack and comfortably took the set.
The second set was more evenly contested. El Salvador stayed close for much of the set before Mexico created separation down the stretch to take a 2-0 lead. The third followed a similar pattern, with El Salvador holding the advantage at times, but Mexico responded in the decisive points to close the match in straight sets.
Mexico held the advantage in every scoring category, leading 39-30 in attacks, 10-1 in blocks and 5-2 in aces. El Salvador committed two more errors than Mexico, 21-19.
Three Mexican players scored in double figures. Bryan Vasquez led all scorers with 16 points, including four blocks; Fernando Cadena contributed 13 points, including three blocks, and Eduardo Garza finished with 12.
For El Salvador, Abner Cano was the only player in double figures with 11 points.
Bryan Vasquez, Mexico’s top scorer: “We’re very happy and the team is very united. We hope things go very well for us in the semifinals. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish the pool stage the way we wanted, but in the end, we made it to the semifinals.”
Jair Morales, head coach of Mexico: “We had some bad matches at the beginning, but today I’m very happy with the guys because they regained their confidence. Tomorrow, we play the United States, a traditionally strong opponent with a lot of height, but we’re also very focused on the competition. We’re going to give our best effort to reach the final, which is our goal.”