Eduardo Guerra – Panama
The Panamanians won against Guatemala in a duel between undefeated teams to finish with a 3-0 mark and punching a direct ticket to the final-four round on Friday.
In the quarterfinals on Thursday, Guatemala will go against El Salvador while Nicaragua will take on Costa Rica, the second placed team of Pool A.
Panama 3, Guatemala 1
Panama overcame Guatemala in four sets (26-24, 14-25, 25-14, 25-22) to win men’s Pool B with a 3-0 win-loss balance. Veterans Donaldo Ureña, Domingo Avila and Jose Cunningham contributed 17, 16 and 13 points to the victory. Guatemala’s Andy Leonardo and Luis Garcia finished with 16 and 14 respectively and Julio Recinos added 10.
Ricardo Brown, captain of Panama, said to be pleased to be in the semifinals. “Our team is much stronger than the one we presented in the Central American Cup. It has been too long since last time we beat Guatemala. Now we must rest and recover for the semifinals”.
Nicaragua 3, Belize 1
Nicaragua qualified in third place of Pool B following their 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19) win over Belize. The losers made 49 unforced errors to jeopardize their chances in the match between winless sides.
Lester Martinez and Tito Valdivia had 12 and 10 points respectively for the winners while Karym Coleman finished with 15 for Belize. “The team played better but Belize made us work for it,” said Jorge Toledo Nicaragua’s captain.
Costa Rica 3, El Salvador 1
Richard Smith scored a tournament-high 35 points leading Costa Rica to a 3-1 (27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18) victory over El Salvador in front of 2,000 spectators who cheered for the home team from start to finish. The winners held margins of 10-6 and 3-1 in blocking and aces. Rodrigo Chavez had 21 points for the losers.
“We went out to win, now we need to concentrate on tomorrow’s match, the most important to continue in the battle for the medals,” said Costa Rican Smith.
Pool Play Positions:
Pool A: 1. Honduras (2-0), 2. Costa Rica (1-1), 3. El Salvador (0-2)
Pool B: 1. Panama (3-0), 2. Guatemala (2-1), 3. Nicaragua (1-2), 4. Belize (0-3)
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