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Barbados comes from behind to beat El Salvador
GATINEAU, Canada, June 24, 2015 – Barbados overcame a 0-2
deficit to beat El Salvador 3-2 (19-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-21,
15-11) Wednesday in Pool B action of the U21 Men’s Pan American
Cup at the Centre Sportif de Gatineau.
After losing to the United Sates on Tuesday, Barbados has higher
hopes of qualifying to the quarterfinal stage. With two
defeats, El Salvador now sits last in Pool B.
The Central American squad got off to a good start by taking the
first two sets 25-19 and 26-24. But they lost steam and the
Caribbean team started controlling the game and took the two
subsequent sets to set the stage for the tie-breaker.
Barbados again took the initiative in the decisive set 8-4 and
although their opponents closed in 10-11, they displayed a more
effective attack and took advantage of their rivals’ errors to
win 15-11.
Jabarry Goodridge was crucial in Barbados’ victory with 31
points. Andriy Stapleton and captain Ammuniki Wood added 12 and
11, respectively. Mauricio Rivas (18) and captain Samuel Valdez
(14) were the top scorers for El Salvador.
John Stuart, head coach of Barbados: "We started really slow and
made too many forced errors, but the guys showed a lot of heart
coming back from two sets. Hopefully by tomorrow for the next
game, we should have it all sorted out.”
Ammuniki Wood, captain of Barbados: “I think we had an average
game, but we still haven’t showed our full potential. We show
spurts in some moments but we still haven’t showed up. I’m proud
of the guys for coming back after being down 2 sets and showing
that we have some fight, but we still have yet to really show
our full potential in the tournament. We will work on it at
practice tomorrow and be back for the next game.”
Samuel Valdez, captain of El Salvador: “We started out well in
the first two sets, very focused. We slowed down in the third
and in the fourth we did started well but again lost our focus
and the long game started to take a toll on us. The tie-breaker
is a lottery. Whoever makes less mistakes is the winner. We will
prepare for our next game and leave the tournament with our
heads up.”
Ricardo Rivera, head coach of El Salvador: “We have a lot to
learn from this match. We were extra confident after leading 2-0
and nobody expected to lose after such lead. We will keep our
spirit high for tomorrow's game. We want to leave the tournament
with a good performance as we are preparing to defend our
Central American title in August at home.”
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