Suriname Swept St. Vincent in their Opening Match

PARAMARIBO, Mexico, September 16, 2024. - Suriname swept Saint Vincent (25-18, 25-16, 25-20) in their first match of the Men's U23 Pan American Cup, which began on Monday at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal in Paramaribo, Suriname. 

The Men’s U23 Pan American Cup is being held from September 16 to 22 and offers two berths for NORCECA teams not yet qualified for the 2025 Asunción Junior Pan American Games. 

Located in Pool B, Suriname (1-0) will face Guatemala (1-0) on Tuesday, and Saint Vincent (0-1) will take on Peru (0-1). 

The host country controlled Saint Vincent with advantages in attacks (36-22), serves (5-4), and committed fewer errors (21-29). Saint Vincent was superior in blocks (7-5). 

Suriname’s opposite hitter, Meson Anakaba, led all scorers with 13 points (11 attacks, 2 aces). Contributing to the win with seven points each were outside hitter Anfernee Lee and middle blocker Faiq Lobo. 

For Saint Vincent, setter Damari Frederick and middle blocker Shadron Delpesche scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. 

Suriname dominated the first set with attacks from Meson Anakaba, Anfernee Lee, and Faiq Lobo. In the second set, the host country jumped to a comfortable five-point lead (10-5) thanks to the offense of Shemar Jameson and Carlo Huisden; for Saint Vincent, Damari Frederick emerged as the set's top scorer. Saint Vincent had momentum in the third set, recovering from a six-point deficit (17-23) to close in at (20-23) with effective blocks from Kyle Liverpool and several errors by Suriname, who eventually celebrated their first victory with a match point attack from Jonovan Wijngaarde.

Siryan Meijer, captain of Suriname: “It was a good beginning for us. I think we didn’t make as many errors as St. Vincent. We were more consistent than them and we played cleaner volleyball, they were kind of messy on their side. In the third set St. Vincent tried to lift, but we came back as a team, we talked in the time-out, and we were determined to go for it”.

John Jaimion, captain of St. Vincent and the Grenadines: “It took us a while to get started, we had a good third set, we got a little momentum going because we needed time adjusting. We will improve with the upcoming games. Tomorrow, we face Peru, we saw them today and they are a bit intimidating, but I think with today’s experience we will be able to formulate something for them”.