Do or Die Match against Nicaragua for Belize’s Volleyball Girls

Since Sunday, the U-nineteen Female Central American Volleyball Championship has been raging at the Belize City Civic Center. Team Belize has been performing well, but on Monday lost to the formidable Costa Rican team. And then on Wednesday, our girls pummelled Honduras. Tonight, the team takes on Nicaragua and then on Friday, they go head-to-head with the team from Guatemala before ending off on Saturday with a match against El Salvador. Today, News Five spoke with President of the Belize Volleyball Association who gave an update on the standings for team Belize.

Allan Sharp

Allan Sharp, President, Belize Volleyball Association

“We started off very well as we had hoped against the Panama team; we showed what we can do. The following night, I must admit that Costa Rica was stronger that I had expected. They showed that they have a lot of experience, their serving was very strong. They had that tactic in their serving that unlike any other team. I think they were the best here in doing that and that really had an effect on us. We are the only team so far to take a set from them; they have been dominant in the competition so we feel good about that. And now comes Nicaragua. Nicaragua has the same record like us; in fact, they have only lost to Costa Rica. We play Guatemala tomorrow night; Guatemala has the same record as us, but they play Costa Rica today, this afternoon at 2:30. So we are feeling confident. Once we get pass this match, it is into the medal rounds and so it is very important to get pass this match. We think the girls are ready. I believe there is Costa Rica, [then] Belize – we are the second best team in this tournament if you look at it. Now it is just to go out there and do it. I think we should be able to actually beat the next teams – I don’t want to say easily – but Nicaragua is a team that is going to battle. If there is one trait about Nicaragua, they never give up. They don’t care if you are twenty to two; they are going to be fighting so we expect that tonight. We expect long rallies, we expect them to play hard, we expect it to be a tough match. But that said we know that we are the better team and should be able to overcome them.”