The Jamaican Women’s senior volleyball team fell just short
The Jamaican Women’s senior volleyball team fell just short
in the gold medal match against Nicaragua in the second round of the NORCECA regional world volleyball championships qualifier at the Alfred Sangster auditorium last night. Both teams had met earlier in the day in a dead rubber match, that the Nicaraguans won easily.
Bouyed on by a vociferous home crowd and energized by the lyrics “we nuh frighten fi no body” by Conscience and “we ready fi di road” blaring through the loud speakers, the local ladies took the game to the visitors and stormed to an early lead in the first set. It was clear the Jamaican’s had made tactical adjustments following on their previous loss to this team, as they defended much better at the net, preventing their opponents from scoring with easy tips as they had done earlier. The serving was also much better in set one, as they scored easy points with a number of aces. A near fever pitch atmosphere emerged, as the girls fed off the energy of the frenzied crowd to win set one 25-21.
However, as they did after winning set three in the days earlier encounter, the girls game out flat for set two and were duly punished by the Nicaraguan team. The visitors capitalized on the break in concentration of the Jamaicans to get off to a flier taking an early lead, which they never looked like relinquishing, and quickly closed out the set 25-14 to draw the mat h level at one set a piece.
The pep talk from head coach Getashue Bonner seemed to work wonders as the Jamaican’s came out with renewed energy for set three. In what proved to be the most exciting set in the tournament, both teams showed why they had made it to the finals as neither team gave away easy points in the set. Every point was well earned as both sets of ladies gave it all they had. The set was almost dead even all the way to the 20 point mark before the Jamaican’s started to inch from the Nicaraguans and untimately closed out the set 25 -22.
The home crowd was abuzz with excitement in contrast to how flat they were in set two as they realized that Jamaica was a set away from lifting the beautiful, shiny championship trophy. But the Nicaraguans were not about to roll over and die and quickly took control of set four before easing to an easy set win (25-16) to set up a 5th and deciding set.
With the final set going only to 15 points both teams knew there was no margin for error. After trading early points, the Nicaraguans seized control of the critical final set and though the Jamaican ladies battled bravely, they were unable to claw their way back as Nicaragua won the set 15 -10 and the match by 3 sets to 2. Both teams received a standing ovation at the end of the game for what was truly a very good exhibition of volleyball.
Both teams will now advance to the 3rd round of NORCECA qualifications for the world championships and it is the first time that the Jamaican ladies have made it this far.
In the third and fourth play-off, Suriname eased to an easy straight sets win, 25-15; 25-9; 25-12 over Bermuda
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