Barbados takes seventh place with victory over Panama

Barbados defeated Panama 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-15 to take the seventh position at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship.

Elwyn Oxley led Barbados with 21 points including four blocks and Fabian Cox added 18 all via attacks. Damien Danzell contributed 13 points to the winning effort including seven blocks and two aces. Domingo Avila and Donaldo Ureña recorded 14 points apiece for Panama and Ricardo Brown tallied 11.

“It is good to go back home with this victory,” said Ludger Niles, the coach of Barbados. “We need to play more matches against teams like Mexico, Panama and Dominican Republic. We have a two-year working plan and now we have to go back and continue that trend.”

“We started well winning the first set but suddenly we started to make many mental mistakes and they took advantage of it,” said Brown, the captain of Panama. “Our blocking wasn’t good after the first set and we let them to take the momentum. They played better than us and deserved the win.”