President of the Jamaica Volleyball Association Wayne Robertson is beaming following the success of Jamaica’s women’s volleyball team, the ‘Riddim Girls’, who secured their spot in Round Three of the FIVB Women’s World Volleyball Championship qualifiers with a straight set victory over the Bahamas at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in Barbados on Saturday night.
The win sent the Jamaicans into the finals of the qualification tournament where they were scheduled to face the host nation at the same venue last night, with both teams assured of a place in the penultimate round of qualifying. The winner will contest the next round in Puerto Rico with the second-and third-placed finishers moving to the United States.
The Jamaicans, who had not lost a set going into last night’s game, suffered a first-set scare in their match-up against the Bahamians, but rallied to win 25-23 before out-powering their opponents 25-9 and 25-13 in the second and third sets, respectively.
Robertson expressed satisfaction at the performance of the team after equally dominating victories over the Cayman Islands (25-7, 25-19, 25-15) and St Lucia (25-15, 25-23, 25-21) in their earlier games.
"I am very happy for the team and for the coaching staff. I know they have put a lot of work into this so this one is really for them. We want to be number one in the Caribbean, first, and then the region, so this, is a small step towards bigger success," said Robertson.
He was, however, careful to point out that the team will not be settling for second spot as they have set their sights on the championship trophy, while admitting that things have not been too difficult for the Jamaicans so far.
".We will not be satisfied with second place. The girls have dominated from the start of this tournament and have sent a clear signal that they came here to win, and that is very satisfying to us. Now we just have to ensure that we complete the job against Barbados," Robertson said.
Despite their steam-rolling performances in Barbados, Robertson is aware that the Jamaicans’ chances of advancing to the 2010 World Volleyball Championships in Japan remain a serious challenge. He is, however, confident that the team’s mixture of youthfulness and experience will go a long way in taking them through the next round of qualifying where they will face at least one of the top three teams in the NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean) region.
Said Robertson: "The third round is going to be very difficult, but notwithstanding, we like what we are seeing with the young players. This team is a nice mixture of youngsters and we have a few veterans to steer the ship and they have been steering really well."
"We are confident that we will be able to build on this qualification and give a good showing of ourselves in the next phase," he added.
