ST JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda, October 20, 2024: Bermuda shut out the cacophony of noise and the shenanigans and focused on what was before them on the court, to beat Antigua and Barbuda 3-1(25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 25-16) in the 2024 Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Senior Women’s Championships here at the YMCA Sports Complex.
In a clash of the two unbeaten teams, as this was reflected in the competitive nature of the first three sets, before Bermuda closed out the contest in the fourth.
Hence, Bermuda marched to their fourth straight win, and with a match in hand, has all but booked a place in the final.
Revealing that they were well prepared for what the Antiguans had to throw at them, Bermuda’s Head Coach- Shalae Rae, in an expression of accomplishment, said, “The mood is ecstatic…We know Antigua was the team to beat… We prepared for it and we are thrilled that we pulled it off”.
She shared that they were mentally prepared for the battle, given the home support for the Antiguans.
“We had a lot of team talk… We talked about strategies to overcome the crowd… There is going to be heckles. It is gonna be loud … It is gonna be annoying … We need to overcome that, bring your energy to overcome that”, Rae related.
Joining Rae in assessing the big effort by the Bermudans was team Captain- Kaylee Trott, who confirmed: “We didn’t think it will be easy by any means … We had to make a big effort to keep our energy up… Our bench really helped with that”.
On the other hand, reviewing his team’s first loss, Antigua and Barbuda’s Head Coach- Olsen Joseph summed up, “It was a little hard one … It was a lot of mistakes on our end, we need to work on improving that”.
Joseph disclosed that although they had strategized against the technically strong Bermuda team, they were not able to execute as planned.
“We tried to put the taller blockers on the main attackers but we were unable to get it stop”, the Antigua and Barbuda Head Coach conceded.
For Rosemarie Simon, the Antigua and Barbuda Captain: “I am a little disappointed that we lost the game … I have seen Bermuda play throughout the tournament and I know that they are a technically inclined team, so I knew it would have been a fight but I knew that our team could have played a little bit better”.
A confident Simon believes her team can and will rebound in their remaining matches.
Match eleven involves St Lucia and St Maarten.
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