The Tribune

THE Bahamas men’s national volleyball team had to settle for seventh place at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championships after defeating Saint Lucia in three straight sets, 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday.

Team captain Prince Wilson scored 15 points while Byron Ferguson had 10.

“I’m very proud and happy for this victory, I feel delighted, “ said coach Raymond Wilson. “We saw that we belong to a tournament of this level and we also wanted to grow in experience and showed the world that the Bahamas can play at this level.”

Saint Lucia finished in eighth place while Guatemala ended up in ninth.

On Friday, the Bahamas pulled off their first victory after losing three straight with a stunning three-set victory as well over Guatemala. Set scores were 25-18, 25-21, 25-23.

Again, Prince Wilson led the team by scoring 14 points with two aces, followed by Renaldo Knowles with 13 and Byron Ferguson with 11.

“It was a victory that we needed to advance to play for seventh place. We started to play very well but had some inconsistency. We didn’t want to finish last in the tournament. Tomorrow, we will look for another win and to get the chance to finish higher,” Wilson said.

“Our guys were very well settled in this match. We made some errors, but worked well with our jump serves. Guatemala is a pretty experienced team, but we were able to capitalise on some of their errors,” Wilson said.

In their last round robin game, the Bahamas lost to Puerto Rico 25-10, 25-17, 25-20 as Wilson was the top scorer with 12. Despite the loss, he said he saw improvement in his team.

“This was a better match for us, the guys showed a better chemistry, tried to set the ball high and didn’t lose it out of bounds, and that was good. We picked up more than 10 points and played with more confidence in the end,” he said. “I think we did better things, but we lost the game due to side outs. We didn’t do it effectively, but it was possible to play more consistently against them in the end.”

In their second game in the round robin, the Bahamas lost to Puerto Rico 25-10, 25-17, 25-20 on Wednesday. Prince Wilson was the top scorer with 12. The Bahamas lost its opening game to Cuba 25-16, 25-12, 25-7 as Prince Wilson was the best scorer with eight points.