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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”.
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