… Sheppard receives Best Server award

GUYANA suffered a surprising early exit when they competed in the Inter-Guiana U-21 Volleyball competition over the weekend in French Guiana.

The English-speaking South American nation, who won the men’s competition in 2018 and finished as runners-up in 2019, bowed out of the preliminary round after losses to both Suriname and French Guiana.

The female team went down 0-2 but were very competitive against Suriname.

One positive takeaway for the side was Kristoff Sheppard’s win of the Best Server award.

According to coach and president of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) Levi Nedd, all the teams in the competition improved.

He noted that the distance Guyana travelled placed them at an early disadvantage.  He said that the side spent three days in Suriname to uplift their visas and the lengthy travelling, fatigue and lack of sleep restricted them from playing at full strength.

Against rivals, the French Guiana side, Guyanese males drew first blood (25-22), but lost the second (16-25) before they won the third game (25-22). The home team, however, managed to win the fourth and fifth games (26-24, 15-11) to claim a victory.

The Guyanese side also fell against Suriname. All the games were close and Guyana managed to pull one back at 25-22 after Suriname had won the first two (25-22, 26-24), but the Dutch bounced back to take the last game (25-23).

Suriname could not replicate their performance in the final against French Guiana, since their setter fell sick and had to be taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, in the female category, despite having to play upon arrival after a tiring seven-hour journey, the Guyanese female team still held their own against French Guiana.

They managed to put up a better fight against Suriname, but also went down 0-3 (25- 23, 26-24, 25-17).