It was the type of result that could be crushing to the senior women's national volleyball program. After finishing sixth at the 14th Senior Women's Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Championships earlier this summer, The Bahamas sunk to an all-time low this past weekend as they failed to get out of the first round of the 2014 FIVB (International Federation of Volleyball) World Championships Qualifiers.
All the team needed to win was one game. That task proved to be too great as they dropped all four games of the two-day tournament, climaxed by a hurtful straight sets loss to host country Suriname last night. The Bahamas fell 25-23, 25-19 and 25-18 in a little over a hour at the Ismay van Wilgen Sports Hall in Paramaribo, Suriname. As a result, they brought up the rear in the four-team group and failed to get out of the first round of the qualifiers.
The top three teams, Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe and Suriname moved on to the second round. Team Bahamas' Head Coach Joe Smith was unavailable for comment Sunday night. Offensively against Suriname, the team was led by sisters Cheryse and Krystel Rolle, with eight and seven points respectively. Tia Charlow also had seven points for The Bahamas, and Katrina Lightbourn dropped in six.
Melinda Bastian had four. Sandrina Hunsel was in a league by herself, with a game-high 22 points for Suriname. Sigourney Kame scored 10 points for the host and Chavelli Wip and Xaviera Willemsberg contributed five apiece. Suriname also defeated The Bahamas in straight sets, on Saturday. In that match, they won 25-22, 25-15 and 25-15. In fact, The Bahamas only won two sets for the entire weekend.
They managed to get a set off Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament opener on Saturday morning, but still fell 25-20, 25-15, 21-25 and 25-15, and then actually took the first set against Guadeloupe on Sunday morning, but couldn't maintain that pace as they fell 16-25, 25-21, 25-15 and 25-18. Going into the tournament, Smith was confident of their chances. He said: "Even though our team is short-handed, we came here with the aim to qualify.
We know we don't need to be champions of the group to qualify but just be among the top three teams. We have added a few new faces to the team and we know it is going to be tough but we have to play hard and represent our country against all the teams which we know well." Unfortunately for Smith and the team, it didn't work out that way.
The Bahamas had only sent eight team members to Suriname, in hopes of at least getting out of the first round of qualifiers for the NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation) region for the 2014 FIVB World Championships.
However, the team's dismal showing at the two-day event only served to prolong a truly disappointing summer in which they finished sixth at CAZOVA, and now near the bottom of the barrel of regional volleyball. On the other hand, the men's program seems to be taking off. The Bahamas' senior men won their first ever CAZOVA title earlier this summer. They will play in their version of the 2014 FIVB World Championships Qualifiers when they travel to Curacao next month. Their first-round tournament is set for October 26-29.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
