Aruba claims first win in five sets

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, October 6, 2012. - Aruba overcame Cayman Islands by score of 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10) to claim their first win at the NORCECA-E  First Round Tournament of 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship.

The game had its difficulties as both squads were anxious to claim their first victory in the tournament. Aruba demanded their maximum effort to win the last match of the day.  The winners were better in service points (7-4) but trailed (13-17) in the blocking category.

Daniel Mitchell and Frank Meermans topped Aruba with 20 and 19 points respectively. Olney Thompson was the best for Cayman Islands with 19 points and Martin Bodden tallied 16.

“We lost our first match because things didn’t turn out well but as a team we worked together to keep up our moral to face Cayman Islands, I’m proud of my teammates and of my coach,” expressed Aruba’s captain Eargenell De Cuba.

Olney Thompson, of Cayman Islands said: “Both teams played well, anyone could have won, it’s just unfortunate that we lost but we must put it behind, go home and get some rest and think about the next step to move forward.”

John Van Der Lee stressed that this is Aruba’s first international match in four years and it was difficult to prepare. “I told my guys to forget about the mornings’ loss, and they performed well. Tomorrow we will face Suriname who we haven’t played against for ten years and the plan is to win”. 

Keith Higgins coach of Cayman Islands indicated: “We played a good match but when it came to crucial points we couldn’t take control, there was a mix up in the last point, nevertheless we were already behind. The truth is that we need to play better in order to win and not only do some things right like our blocking.”