Sport

Riddim Girls beaten again

IT WAS MORE disappointment for Jamaica's Riddim Girls as they were downed in straight sets, 3-0, by the number fifth-ranked Cuban team when play in the North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) continued yesterday at the Oscar Gobaira Sports Complex in the Dominican Republic.

Tough task

In this the team's second game, the Cubans took charge early with a 25-10 first set, and never looked back as they went on to win the next two sets 25-12, 25-10.

Realistically it was always going to be a tough task for the team to beat an opponent ranked 41 places above them in the World rankings, especially coming off a loss to an unranked Guatemala, a team that they had thought it would have been more likely to beat.

Despite the loss assistant coach Oneil Ebanks insists that the team has not given up. "The team's spirit is up after the Cuba game.

I know we lost in straight sets, but we played a lot better than we did against Guatemala. Against them, (Guatemala) we made a lot of errors that we really shouldn't have." Ebanks remarked. "We are still working towards qualification and we still have our sights set on that, we are not going to give up until the very last." he responded when asked about the teams prospects for qualification.

One loss away

The Jamaicans are now one loss away from being all-together mathematically eliminated from a place in the World Volleyball Championships that will take place in Japan next year. With the Dominican Republic up later today, tomorrow's game against Costa Rica may be of little significance.

If the Riddim Girls are to advance to the World Champion-ships they must now win back to back games, in two days. The team had qualified for the second round of the qualifiers after they easily topped the first round held in Kingston in May of this year