Host USVI outduel Curacao
ST CROIX, Virgin Islands, May 26, 2012 - Danielle Selkridge led
host US Virgin Islands to a hard fought 3-0 (25-23, 25-20,
25-21) win over Curacao in the second match on the opening day
of the 2014 FIVB World Championship Women's Pool C Qualifiers at
the Ronald "Ranche" Charles Basketball Arena on Saturday
morning.
Selkridge ended with ten points while Valissia Brathwaite and
Janelle Sarauw added eight points each and captain Sacha Gumbs
seven as USVI proved too much for Curacao before a crowd of
close to 200 spectators.
US Virgin Islands which had the taller and more athletic players
of both teams was surprisingly out-blocked 8-6 while they had
the better of the service aces, 4-2. However, it was by no means
a polished performance from both teams as they combined for a
total of 64 errors, 30 by the host and 34 from Curacao.
Sacha Gumbs, captain of the winning US Virgin Islands squad
while delighted with the win also felt her team did not perform
as good as it can.
"At the beginning we started very good but then we fell apart
with regards to out service receiving which allowed Curacao back
into the set. The second we again started well but we had to
fight all the way as Curacao improved their game and in the
third set our service game helped us a lot while we also had a
much improved showing defensively."
Lucille Hobson coach of US Virgin Islands added, "We knew going
into the match that Curacao would have been a tough contest even
they have lost in most of our meetings before and in the end we
were made to work hard for the victory.
“My team did not play well and we know we surely could have
given a better performance. We are a very strong passing team
but today that was not the case. I don’t know exactly why our
passing was not up to our usual good standard but we intend to
improve on it. Despite those minor lapses it was a good game for
us in that we got a win against a good team and we will see what
happens for the rest of the tournament.
Speaking after the match Christian Anthony captain of the
Curacao team expressed her disappointment with the display of
her team-mates. Anthony said, 'I was not happy with the way we
played at all because I know we can play much better than we did
and we are going too in our next matches.
Curacao coach, Henry Delfina echoed the views of Anthony and
stated, 'We did not play well overall as a team. In the first
two sets we managed to stay close with some spirited play but
our defence was not as good as it needed to be for this match to
get the win. I also believed that our fighting spirited fell
apart and it showed in our play as we were not that consistent. |