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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, December 7, 2015 - Curacao made an
impressive start to the 10th CAZOVA championships here in the
Wildey Gymnasium with a straight-set 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-14)
dismissal of their Dutch brothers Aruba.
Aruba, returning to competition after many years absence could
not match the attacking and blocking power of Curacao. Both
teams were equally matched in ground play of digs and reception
but Curacao led by best scorer Shruendy Valeriano and Marlison
Kleinmoedig proved too powerful in the critical stages of the
match.
Dwayne Angela with nine kills and one ace battled strong for
Aruba but he lacked the support with only Ronald Hofstee with
eight kills proving to be a challenge for the opponents after
building good leads in the first two sets.
Curaçao outscored Aruba 34-24 in kills, 7-1 in blocks and 8-3 in
aces.
The winning coach Maverick Alexander summed up his team's
opening performance as "great".
"This is great. It is a new environment for my boys and they
are feeling their way so to win this game in such a manner gives
them the chance to fully assess the situation and to prepare for
the rest of the tournament," stated Alexander.
Aruba's coach Robles De Medina indicated that nerves cause his
team to lose the game after racking up leads in the first two
sets.
"This was the first game for my team which is returning to
competition and the nerves and panic affected their play. I am
confident that they will learn from this match and perform
better," said De Medina. |
