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CAVOZA action set to resume

 

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, November 8, 2016 – The first round of the CAZOVA zonal qualifying series to the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Volleyball Championship will resume here with the start of action in Group C on Saturday.

 

Mushtaque Mohammed, president of CAZOVA, announced that teams from Bahamas, Bonaire, Guadeloupe and the host country will compete in a straight round-robin two-day event and the top two finishers will advance to the second round in July.

 

Cayman Islands will have the home court advantage, but they are at the bottom of the ladder in this competition with a CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) ranking of #12.

 

Bonaire is only ranked once place higher as Guadeloupe and Bahamas, ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, are the favourites to advance.

 

However the form book was thrown out the window when the first round began with Group A action in August in St Croix.

 

The Barbadians, ranked third in CAZOVA and the highest of 12 teams involved in the three groups, failed to advance as ninth-ranked players from Curacao won all three matches to qualify along with the eight-ranked hosts United States Virgin Islands.

 

Action in the third and final group, Group B, will take place on November 26 and 27 in Aruba. Teams from Suriname (ranked fourth), Haiti (7th), Aruba (10th) and Martinique (13th) will be battle for two other places in the second round.

 

Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, ranked first and second, respectively, in the zone, have received byes into the second round and will each host half of the six qualifiers in July.

 

The two group winners, along with the final two teams standing in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association Zone and the Central American Zone, will then compete alongside top-ranked NORCECA teams Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

 

The top six finishers from this competition will qualify for the next World Championship in Japan.

 

United States received an automatic berth after winning the previous edition in 2014.