Photo: Belize National U-15 Volleyball Girls Team – Silver Medalists at Central American “Invitational” Championship 2024
by William Ysaguirre
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 16, 2024
The Belize National Under-15 volleyball girls team won the Silver medal and 4 individual awards, finishing with 4 wins, 1 loss, at the Central American “Invitational” championships hosted by the Nicaraguan Sports Institute at the IND Gymnasium in Managua, Nicaragua, from December 11-15.
Photo: Jamielee Espejo – Best Server & Best Receiver
The Belize girls debuted with a 3-0 win over Honduras, led by Imaun Marin hammering 12 kills at the net, and Jamielee Espejo scoring 4 hits and serving 4 aces to win the first set, 25-14. Kijana Rose hammered 3 hits and served 3 aces, and Carly Vaccaro served 4 aces and scored 2 hits, with A’Shae Parks adding 4 pts to win the 2nd set, 25-17. Faia Reshetina scored 3pts, Nathalie Popper and Mira Bood scored a point each, and they profited from the catrachas’ 34 errors, to dominate the 3rd set, 25-12. Sofia Molinero led the catrachas with 6 pts and Belize gave up 30 pts by unforced errors.
Photo: Imauan Marin – Best Spiker & Best Scorer
Belize enjoyed a 2nd win, 3-1, over the hosts, Nicaragua, on Thursday evening, December 12, led by Espejo hammering 15 this and serving 5 aces to win the 1st set, 25-23. Marin hammered 17 kills and a kill block, and Rose scored 6 hits and served 4 aces to win the 2nd set, 29-27. Keysha Solis and Eily Valle Mendoza rallied the “pinoleras” counterattack with 13 pts each, as they won the 3rd set, 25-22. Vaccaro scored 4 hits, Popper scored 2 hits and a kill block, while Bood and Elliana Burns added 2 hits each, as they profited from the host’s 49 errors to win the 4th set, 27-25.
Belize had a rest day on Friday, but lost 24-26, 19-25, 22-25 to the eventual champions – Costa Rica on Saturday; Marin and Espejo scored 16 pts each, but gave up 29 pts by unforced errors. They recovered to dominate Guatemala, 25-11, 25-14, and 26-24 on Sunday morning.
The Belize girls had to play 2 matches back-to-back on Sunday, but prevailed, 3-0, over the bronze medalists – El Salvador on Sunday afternoon. Espejo hammered 16 kills at the net and served 4 aces to win the 1st set, 25-15. Marin scored 15 hits and served 2 aces, and Rose hammered 5 kills and served 5 aces to win the 2nd set, 25-23. Popper scored 2 hits and a kill block, Burns added 3 pts, and A’Shae Parks scored 2 pts. Chloe Bowman and Mira Bood chipped in a point each, as they profited from the “cuzcatlecas” 18 errors, to dominate the 3rd set, 25-12. Tatiana Gomez led the “cuzcatlecas” with 10 pts, and Belize conceded 28 pts by unforced errors.
Imauan Marin hammered 78 kills with a 34.82 percent efficiency to win the Best Spiker award, and she also scored a kill block and served 5 aces to score 84 pts, also winning the Best Scorer award. Jamielee Espejo served 16 aces to win the Best Server award, and had 39 excellent receptions with a 34.69 percent efficiency to capture the Best Receiver award. Nicaragua finished in 4th place, Guatemala 5th and Honduras 6th.