CHITRÉ, Panama, October 13, 2024.- Nicaragua defeated El Salvador 3-1 (27-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-20) on Sunday, earning their first victory in the 20th AFECAVOL U21 Men’s Central American Championship at the Papa Francisco Gymnasium in Chitré, Panama.
Nicaragua now holds a 1-1 record, while El Salvador remains winless at 0-3.
On the fourth day of competition, Nicaragua will face Honduras at 3:00 pm, followed by El Salvador taking on Costa Rica at 5:30 pm.
Nicaragua clinched the victory with a 58-45 advantage in attacks and 12-9 in blocks. El Salvador had a better performance in serves with a 7-2 advantage but committed more errors, 27-25.
The top scorer of the match was Nicaragua’s Evans Solís with 21 points, followed by Kenneth Martínez with 18. Yader León contributed 14 points.
For El Salvador, Ricardo Alegría led with 17 points, while Abner Cano and Julio Jiménez each added 14.
Nicaragua dominated the first set until El Salvador came from behind to tie at 21 points and reached set point (24-22) with an attack by Andrés Reyes. Evans Solís, alongside Yader León, put Nicaragua ahead 25-24, and despite El Salvador tying again (25-25), two attacks from Solís gave Nicaragua a 1-0 lead. Nicaragua controlled the second set, but El Salvador fought back to extend the match by winning the third set, leading in attacks (12-9) and serves (2-0). Nicaragua used its blocking strength to close the match in the fourth set.
Evans Solís, top scorer of Nicaragua: “We knew it would be a tough match, but we stayed focused after the loss. The team is coming together more, and that’s helping us a lot. We’re moving forward because nothing is set in stone. In the third set, there was some miscommunication, maybe we got overconfident, but we got the result, and that’s what matters”.
Ricardo Alegría, top scorer of El Salvador: “We prepared a lot for the tournament, but unfortunately, we’re not getting the results we expected. All the effort we’re putting in will pay off at some point. We’ll keep our heads up and move forward. Most of the time, we’ve only lost by two points; we just need to push harder at the end to get the win and show what El Salvador is made of”.
English 
Spanish