Home|Sports|The Bahamas drops two matches in SurinameSports

Sheldon LongleySend an emailJuly 27, 2023 7 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

The 18th Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Senior Caribbean Volleyball Championships continued on Wednesday with both of The Bahamas’ teams falling.

Playing their final group stage match, The Bahamas’ men lost to Jamaica in five sets, 25-16, 19-25, 21-25, 27-25 and 15-11, at the Anthony Nesty Sports Hall in Parimaribo, Suriname. They fell to a 2-1 win/loss record in the tournament and will now have to play out of the quarterfinals to have a chance to move on in the tournament. The Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago finished with identical 2-1 records in Pool B.

Meanwhile, the women fell in straight sets to Barbados, 26-24, 25-21 and 25-20, and are now 1-2 going into their final group stage match today.

The Bahamas’ senior men’s national volleyball team had a golden opportunity to put away Jamaica yesterday, leading two sets to one and up by four points in the fourth set, but just couldn’t close the door. The Jamaicans trailed 18-14 in the fourth set, but scored five points in a row to take a 19-18 lead. The set went back and forth from that point until Jamaica scored two in a row at 25-25 to put it away.

The Bahamas came out completely flat in the fifth and final set, dropping the first four points before finally getting on the scoreboard. They went on to trail as much as six points in the set and never recovered. The closest they got to Jamaica after the midway break was 12-10 and 13-11. Jamaica scored the final two points to put the set and the match away.

Ryck Webb led Jamaica with 27 points including 23 kills, three service winners and one block. Mark Blake had a balanced game with 16 points on six kills, six blocks and four service winners. Webb leads the entire tournament with 75 points, 23 more than the closest competitor. He also leads the way with 61 kills.

Kyle Wilson paced The Bahamas with 17 points on 14 kills, two blocks and one service winner. In tournament play, he trails Webb in second with 52 total points and 42 kills. In the match against Jamaica, Eugene Stuart added 14 points on 13 kills and one block. Prince Wilson had 13 points on 10 kills, two blocks and a service winner.

The battle was evenly matched throughout. Jamaica scored 107 total points compared to 102 for The Bahamas. Both had 49 successful kills. The match was won at the service line, though. Jamaica had 12 service winners compared to just five for The Bahamas.

In the women’s match yesterday, Barbados was the more aggressive team, working together, going after their shots, diving for balls and out-attacking The Bahamas. Simply put, The Bahamas was outplayed.

Shonte Seale had a game-high 21 points for Barbados, coming off 16 kills, three service winners and two blocks. Individually, she is second in the tournament with 60 points and is third in kills with 46. Tenneille Chapman-Goodluck was the next highest scorer for Barbados with 12 points.

Jannelle Curtis had a side-high 13 points for The Bahamas including 11 kills. She is third in the tournament with 57 points and is fourth in kills with 42. Brittany Bonamy was the next highest scorer for The Bahamas with seven points.

The first set went back and forth, and could have gone either way, but Barbados pulled through in the end, scoring the final two points of the set after it was tied 24-24. The second set was also tied late, 20-20, but Barbados turned up the heat when they 

needed to. They won five of the last six points of the set to pull off the 25-21 second set win. In the third set, The Bahamas couldn’t get any momentum going. They fell behind early, and despite pulling even a couple times, they could never get that critical go-ahead point.

Overall, Barbados won 50 points off kills, blocks and service winners compared to 38 for The Bahamas in those same three categories. Barbados had 24 faults in those three areas compared to 33 for The Bahamas. The match lasted an hour and nine minutes.

The Bahamas will play its final group stage game against Jamaica at noon today. A win would assure The Bahamas of a spot in the tournament semifinals which are set for Friday. The championship match will be played on Saturday.

The men’s championship match is set for Sunday. The semifinals will be played on Friday with the winners going after the gold and the losers playing for bronze.

This is the first time the tournament is being played since 2018.