Recap of bronze medal match at XVI Central American Women’s Volleyball Cup
Nicaragua outshone El Salvador with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, and 25-21) victory and won the bronze medal match of the XVI Central American Women’s Volleyball Cup on Saturday, December 4th, in Panama City. El Salvador played
well, but couldn’t match Nicaragua, who asserted their authority and proved to be the better side in the three-set game.
First Set
Nicaragua attacked with captain Claudia Noguera, who stormed El Salvador’s half with earth-shattering shots. Her delivery of speedy spikes and deceptive cut shots helped Nicaragua score consecutive points and pick up the lead in
the game. On the other side of the net, the El Salvadoran team resisted Nicaragua’s onslaught with strong blocking, digging and diving – but still couldn’t achieve the desired results and trailed behind. The Nicaraguan side attacked with more ferocity as their
score shot up. They jumped at every little opportunity and clipped points, steadily taking the score to the verge of victory in the first set. They closed the set at 25-15, which proved to be a stepping stone for Nicaragua to win the following sets.
Second Set
After losing the first set, El Salvador seemed to be trying to change their approach, trying different strategies and playing more on the offensive. On the contrary, Nicaragua played a sensible game, producing confident shots and
covering every inch of the court to hamper El Salvador’s performance. El Salvador captain Gabriela Martinez strove hard to bring her team’s score up but Nicaragua kept her down, paved their way to set-point with a series of hard-hitting shots. El Salvador
hadn’t been able to raise their score above 15 in the game so far. The second set closed 25-15.
Third Set
Nicaragua was on a winning tempo after the first two set, but El Salvador was not ready to accept defeat so easily. The El Salvadorans hit back strongly and paid more attention to their defence, which helped them score and tail
Nicaragua closely. But the Nicaraguans were not overly pressurized, and successfully resisted El Salvador’s renewed fervour, winning the third set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
Match Statistics
Noguera was the top-scorer of the game with 21 points. The highest scorer for El Salvador was Adriana Flores with 10 points.
Quotes
“I am very happy with the medal. The tournament was very competitive with all the teams with good level.” – Claudia Noguera, captain of Nicaragua
“Nicaragua plays very quick and we were very anxious playing for the bronze medal. We recovered in the third set but it wasn’t enough.” – Gabriela Martinez, captain of El Salvador
Tournament Table
At the end of the final day of the tournament, all the participating teams of the XVI Central American Women’s Volleyball Cup ranked as under:
1- Costa Rica (6-0)
2- Panama (5-1)
3- Nicaragua (4-2)
4- Guatemala (3-3)
5- El Salvador (2-4)
6- Honduras (1-5)
7- Belize (0-6)
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