_{Photo: Belize U23 Women’s National Volleyball team}

Belize secured third place and bagged three individual awards at the VI U-23 Women’s Central American Volleyball Championship in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

by Charles Gladden

HONDURAS, Mon. July 1, 2024

After an intense week of competition in the VI U-23 Women’s Central American Volleyball Championship in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the Belize Women’s national team captured a third-place medal.

The team departed Belize on June 20th to participate in a round-robin competition against the six other Central American countries, namely Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Belize lost their opening match against Guatemala (2-3) on Sunday, June 23; and they also lost to Nicaragua (1-3) on Monday. However, after those two losses, the Belize team found their groove and went on a 4-match winning streak to end the tournament.

Belize secured their first victory over defending champion Costa Rica (3-1) on Tuesday. Following this victory, Belize then defeated Honduras (3-1) on Wednesday, handing Honduras their first loss of the tournament. On Thursday, they swept winless Panama (3-0); and after a rest-day on Friday, they returned on Saturday to also crush El Salvador in straight sets (3-0).

With their (4-2) tournament record, Belize finished in third place overall behind Costa Rica and Nicaragua, who placed second and first, respectively.

Besides securing the bronze medal, Belize nabbed three individual awards which went to Fatima Ramirez for Best Scorer and Best Attacker; and Nissan Martinez for Best Blocker.