GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, August 9, 2026.- Puerto Rico defeated Costa Rica 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-11, 25-18) to finish in fifth place at the Boys’ U17 Pan American Cup, at the Domo Polideportivo in Guatemala City.
Puerto Rico won the first set thanks to good coordination at the net. The match remained quite even until point 17, when Puerto Rico managed to pull away and take the lead in the match.
Costa Rica took control of the second set from the start, and Puerto Rico was never able to challenge the Central Americans, who tied the match. The third set was the opposite, as the Caribbean side imposed its rhythm from the opening points and comfortably managed its advantage to move back in front.
The fourth set was more evenly contested and, although Puerto Rico encountered some difficulties at times, it managed to maintain the advantage and close out the match in four sets.
Puerto Rico led the statistics in attacks 58-37 and blocks 9-5, while both teams finished tied with 5 points from serves.
Puerto Rico’s Antonio Figueroa was the standout performer with 21 points, while teammate Sebastián Colón contributed 17. For Costa Rica, Braulio Alvarado was the leading scorer with 10 points.
Héctor Lavergne, captain of Puerto Rico: “We feel pretty good. It was a long summer with a lot of training. Maybe we didn’t get the result we expected in the tournament, but we worked hard, stayed together the entire time and played as a team.”
English 
Spanish