CHITRÉ, Panama, October 12, 2024.- Panama took a hard-fought victory over El Salvador, 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-23), on Saturday night in the 20th AFECAVOL U21 Men’s Central American Championship, at the Papa Francisco Gymnasium in Chitré, Panama.
The host team remains undefeated with a 2-0 record and 9 points, while El Salvador stands at 0-2.
Panama bounced back after losing the first set, finishing with a slight advantage in attacks (51-50), dominating in blocks (11-7) and serves (5-3), but conceding more points on errors (35-32).
David de León led Panama with 25 points (20 attacks, 4 blocks, one ace). Víctor Pérez and Víctor Arauz contributed 15 and 13 points, respectively.
El Salvador’s Ricardo Alegría was the top scorer of the match with 27 points (25 attacks, one block, one ace). Julio César Jiménez added 11 points, all on kills.
Before winning the third set, Panama lost two set points due to attacks from Jiménez and Alegría of El Salvador. A block by Carlos Mejía denied Panama a match point in the fourth set, but Víctor Pérez sealed the victory with a kill.
Panama (2-0) will rest on Sunday, while El Salvador (0-2) will face Nicaragua (0-1) at 5:30 PM.
Horacio Angulo, Coach of Panama: “This was a tough match, with pressure from El Salvador. They lost to Guatemala yesterday but played well, so we knew they could make the match difficult for us today. We made the necessary adjustments in the second set and were able to win it, along with the next two sets. We are taking it match by match because we know the teams are prepared to reach the podium, and we’re aiming for that as well”.
Andrea Genova, Coach of El Salvador: “Both teams were always close, battling through all four sets. In the first set, we had a bit more luck, with several balls going our way, and we managed to win it. We kept fighting in the following sets, but Panama deserved more. It was a high-level match, with both teams playing strong and evenly. This is the second match where we’ve experienced this”.
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