SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 29, 2026. – Venezuela secured a place in the fifth-place match of the men’s volleyball tournament at the 25th Central American and Caribbean Games Santo Domingo 2026 after defeating Suriname in straight sets, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-19), in the classification round.
With the victory, Venezuela will face the winner of the match between Guatemala and the Dominican Republic for fifth place, while Suriname will meet the loser in the seventh-place match.
Although the match ended in three sets, Venezuela had to remain composed against a determined Suriname side that stayed within striking distance for much of the contest. Venezuela held slight advantages in attacks (38-34) and service points (4-3), while also capitalizing on Suriname’s 29 unforced errors compared to 17 of their own. Suriname finished with the edge in blocking, 5-4.
Carlos Beroes led Venezuela’s offense with 12 points, while Luis López and Yoisbel Galeno each added 10.
Suriname’s Zefanio Breinburg was the match’s top scorer with 13 points, and Keven Sporkslede contributed 12.
“It wasn’t the match we wanted to be playing today, but we’re grateful to God for the victory. We’ve been working hard for a long time, and we managed to get the result in three sets. Tomorrow we’ll go after fifth place, the highest finish we can achieve in this tournament, regardless of who the opponent is,” said Venezuela’s Carlos Beroes.
Suriname libero Roberto Benschop said, “I don’t think we played to our full potential. We could have executed better, but not every day is a good day. Venezuela outplayed us without much difficulty. Tomorrow is a new opponent, and we’ll leave everything on the court, play good volleyball, and hope to finish in seventh place.”
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