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Suriname swept Trinidad and Tobago in their first outing

AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico, August 12, 2021. - Suriname swept Trinidad and Tobago (25-17, 25-18, 26-24) in their first outing at the Women’s U23 Pan American Cup, a qualifier event to the Junior Pan American Games to be held in Cali on November 25 to December 5.

With the victory Suriname (1-0) is set to face Dominican Republic (1-0) on Friday to decide first place of pool A, both teams move into semifinals and qualify to the Cali Junior Pan American Games. Trinidad and Tobago concludes pool-play with 0-2 record.  

When it seemed that Trinidad and Tobago was going to extend the actions, Suriname recovered from a five point deficit 15-20 to finish with the straight set win.

Suriname led 21-18 in attacks and 4-2 in blocks; both teams scored 6 points in serves. Suriname committed 33 unforced errors and Trinidad and Tobago finished with 45.

The top scorers finished with 11 points, outside hitter Margaret Ketura led Suriname and middle blocker Destiny Leon led Trinidad and Tobago. Suriname’s team captain Cabriella Bouterse contributed with 8 points; on the opponent’s side, middle blocker Afiya Alexander added 7 points.

Cabriella Bouterse Captain of Suriname: “We executed, we did everything as possible to keep the advantage on our side, it doesn’t matter how you do it, ugly or beautiful, and it just matters to put the ball down. I’m not sure what happened in the third set, maybe excitement from the other two sets. Tomorrow is a next level match for the first time for us; we’re going to play the best that we can”.

Shanice Cottoy outside hitter of Trinidad and Tobago: “Today we applied more than what we did in our first performance, I believe we could have pushed a lot harder; we need to improve in our defense and our communication. Suriname did well”.

Eric Aikman Coach of Suriname: “Technically speaking we are a little better than our opponent, we have strong serves and strong outside hitters, it feels great to win. Tomorrow it will be more difficult but we are going to do our best”.

Mae Courtnee Coach of Trinidad and Tobago: “It’s a matter of experience and putting the group for a longer period of time, I think Suriname was training more consistently, while with Covid in Trinidad it was difficult to put a team together and train harder than we would have. I am proud of the girls despite the result; we still have more to show”.