TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, November 12, 2026. – Nicaragua bounced back from losing the opening set to defeat Guatemala 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22) in Pool B of the 21st AFECAVOL Central American U21 Women’s Volleyball Championship.
With the victory, Nicaragua secured second place in Pool B, while Guatemala finished third. Both teams await their quarterfinal opponents, who will come from Pool A.
Guatemala started strong in the opening set, led primarily by Natalia Pérez and captain Melissa Guerra. However, toward the end of the set, Guerra was forced to leave the match due to injury, a setback that affected Guatemala’s offensive production and leadership on the court.
Nicaragua applied strong pressure from the service line, recording 14 aces, with eight different players contributing at least one, exposing Guatemala’s difficulties in serve reception.
One of the decisive moments came late in the third set when, with the score tied at 20-20, Emely Valle stepped up to serve and delivered four consecutive serves, including two aces, helping Nicaragua take control of the set. An outstanding defensive play by Andrea Juárez was also crucial in maintaining the lead.
Guatemala held a 49-33 advantage in attacks, while Nicaragua led 10-8 in blocks and capitalized on 40 unforced errors by its opponents, compared to 30 of its own.
Ixtchel Talavera led Nicaragua with 15 points, followed by Lucía Ruiz and Karen Bird with 10 each. For Guatemala, Natalia Pérez topped the scoring with 25 points, while Andrea Garcés added 10.
Claudia Noguera, Nicaragua’s head coach: “I think this is an important victory, especially because the girls showed a very strong mentality. I told them that Guatemala is not an easy team, that they never give up, and that they needed to show the same attitude. I believe that was ultimately the key, the attitude they showed and their determination never to give up. They executed what we had practiced in training.”
Ixtchel Talavera, Nicaragua’s leading scorer: “I honestly feel very proud. We all stayed united as a team and managed to win. Today, we challenged ourselves to improve, and we were able to pull off the victory. Every opponent here is tough, and we know we have even more challenging matches ahead, but we are going for the gold.”
Julio Domínguez, Guatemala’s head coach: “We believe this team can give more and that we have a competitive squad. We have suffered some significant setbacks. Natalia was unavailable for our first match, and today we lost Melissa to injury. These situations affect us, but they are not excuses. We believe we have a team capable of responding in the important matches ahead, starting with the quarterfinals, and why not fight for a place in the semifinals and even the final?”