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Kingston, Jamaica, June 1, 2013 – Jamaica and Nicaragua both moved into the NORCECA Third Round of Qualifiers towards the 2014 FIVB Women’s World Championship by scoring a couple of victories on Saturday in the preliminary phase of the Group M Tournament.
Jamaica registered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-21) victory over Suriname in the nightcap of the first day of action at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium. Earlier in the evening, Nicaragua had scored an easy 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-4) win over Bermuda.
In the morning matches, Nicaragua overcame Suriname in four sets (28-26, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23) while Jamaica beat Bermuda 25-11, 25-16, 25-8.
With their 2-0 win-loss records the 10th ranked Nicaragua and the 12th placed Jamaica in the current NORCECA Rankings are both out of reach for any of the other two competitors following their 0-2 balance.
“I am very happy for the victory because we have put a lot of work to achieve this,” said Gatasheu Bonner, the coach of Jamaica. “Our serving and blocking was the difference today and we have worked very hard in those two areas. The girls executed our game plan to win this important match for us.”
“I am elated with the victory,” said Shedeiky Hamilton, the captain of Jamaica. “It is the first time we qualify to the third round and it means a lot to our team. Our blocking was the key for us.”
Eric Aikman, the coach of Suriname was disappointed about losing the first set and the match.
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“We gave away the first set,” he said. “That’s the set we needed to win. After that, the confidence went down. Volleyball is a mental game and you have to be mentally strong to succeed. They lost the game in their heads.”
Nicaragua’s Claudia Noguera commented about the solution they found to their reception problems over the morning match.
“We were able to solve our passing problems and could execute a better offensive game,” Noguera said. “We are very happy about battling for the top place in this tournament.”
Nicaragua’s Coach Rene Quintana thought his team improved a lot compared to the match against Suriname earlier today.
“We improved not only our reception, but our overall game also,” he said. “I am very glad about my team.”
“We started working as a team but once again our passing fell down,” Bermuda’s Juanita Blee stated. “We will have some discussions overnight, rest a little and bring it together for another match tomorrow.”
