|
|
 |
|
Friday, July 10, 2026
|
|
Defeats for Barnett & Somerville on Opening Day in Roatán
|
Bermuda's Benjamín Barnett and Connor Somerville suffered a challenging opening day on the sand at the seventh stop of the 2026 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour on Tabyana Beach in West Bay, Roatán.
Following the completion of the tournament's preliminary inquiry and official team registrations, action got underway in spectacular fashion in Honduras.
The highly competitive men's tournament features sixteen elite teams representing thirteen nations, all split across four pools of four. The Bermudian duo found themselves drawn into a formidable Pool B alongside powerhouse pairings from the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica.
Barnett and Somerville opened their campaign against Costa Rica's Julián Araya and Stanley Grant. It proved a difficult introduction to the tournament for the island pair, who fell to a straight-sets two-nil defeat. The Costa Ricans took the match twenty-one to eleven and twenty-one to ten in a grueling battle that lasted forty-two minutes.
Hoping to bounce back in their second outing of the afternoon, the Bermudian tandem faced the United States duo of Devin Pérez and Wesley Jensen.
While Barnett and Somerville showed massive improvement and put up a far stiffer resistance, they ultimately succumbed to another two-nil loss. The Americans claimed a tightly contested first set twenty-one to sixteen before wrapping up the victory with a twenty-one to fifteen second-set win, concluding the match in forty-three minutes.
The Bermudian pairing will look to dust themselves down and reset ahead of their final pool stage encounter against the Canadian team of Louis Charbonneau and Henry Heider.
|
|
|
Friday, July 10, 2026
|
|
Mixed fortunes for Bermuda at ECVA U20 Beach Championships
|
Bermuda's rising beach volleyball stars experienced contrasting fortunes on the opening day of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association Under-20 Beach Volleyball Championships at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort in Frigate Bay.
While the women's tandem enjoyed a flawless start to their international partnership, the island's men's duo faced a steep learning curve in their competitive debut.
Olivia Gazzard and Isabella Sousa took the tournament by storm, ending the opening day undefeated in the women's division. The Bermudian pair laid down a marker in their opening match, dispatching St. Martin's Melissa Patrick and Lindi Beldman in straight sets with a comfortable twenty-one to eleven, twenty-one to twelve victory.
Gazzard and Sousa carried that momentum directly into their second outing, delivering another dominant performance to overcome Dominica's Ciera-Kita Frederick and Delila Daniel. The Bermudians controlled the tempo from start to finish, recording a twenty-one to nine, twenty-one to fifteen triumph to keep their perfect record intact.
In the men's draw, Daniel Morris and Carter Lamb suffered a heartbreaking three-set defeat in a roller-coaster opening match against Saint Vincent’s Damari Frederick and Dishawn Alexander.
The Bermudian duo started brilliantly to take the opening set twenty-one to seventeen, but the match turned heavily in the second set as the Saint Vincent pairing leveled the match with a twenty-one to six win. Morris and Lamb fought back tenaciously in the deciding third set, but ultimately fell just short in a nail-biting fifteen to thirteen finish.
The opening-match heartbreak took its toll in their second fixture of the day. Facing a sharp performance from Troy Shiwamber and Jedediah Pencheon, Morris and Lamb struggled to find their rhythm, going down in straight sets with a twenty-one to nine, twenty-one to nine scoreline.
With another round of pool play remaining, the Bermudian men will look to reset, while Gazzard and Sousa aim to carry their scintillating form deep into the knockout stages.
|
|
|
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
|
|
Bermuda U20 Teams Set for ECVA Beach Championships
|
The Bermuda Volleyball Association announced the athletes and coaches who will represent Bermuda at the 2026 Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) U20 Beach Volleyball Championships, taking place July 10–12 in St. Kitts & Nevis.
Representing Bermuda in the women's competition will be Isabella Sousa and Olivia Gazzard, while Carter Lamb and Daniel Morris will compete in the men's division.
The ECVA Championships provide an important opportunity for Bermuda's developing athletes to gain valuable international experience against the Caribbean's top junior beach volleyball players. While Sousa and Gazzard have each previously represented Bermuda once before in international beach volleyball competition, this will be their first international event competing together as a team.
For Lamb and Morris, the championships mark an exciting milestone as their first international beach volleyball competition.
Supporting the athletes will be National Team coaches Sean Tucker and Meagan McPeek, who will coach the men's and women's teams throughout the championship.
In addition to the competition, the event includes a three-day athlete development camp and coach education programme hosted by the ECVA. National Team coaches Sean Tucker and Meagan McPeek will participate in an advanced coaching course led by Bermuda's FIVB Empowerment Coach, Rick Bevis, during the training camp. The course provides another valuable opportunity to continue developing Bermuda's coaching expertise while preparing athletes and coaches for future international competition.
The BVA is also pleased to have Paul Bohus and Marcus Rodrigues attending the FIVB Level 1 Coaching Certification Course, which will run alongside the championships. Investing in coach education continues to be a key priority for the association as it builds the long-term growth and sustainability of beach volleyball in Bermuda.
"This is an exciting opportunity for our young athletes to test themselves against strong international competition while proudly representing Bermuda," said National Beach Team Chair Meagan McPeek.
"International experience is invaluable to athlete development, and this event also provides outstanding opportunities for our coaches. Having Sean and myself continue learning under Rick Bevis while Paul and Marcus work toward their FIVB Level 1 certification is another important step in strengthening our beach volleyball programme for the future."
National Team coach Sean Tucker added, "For some of these athletes, this will be a completely new experience, and that's what makes it so exciting. Competing internationally helps accelerate development, builds confidence, and gives players a clear understanding of what it takes to compete at the next level."
The Bermuda Volleyball Association extends its appreciation to ECVA for providing these valuable athlete and coach development opportunities and wishes all of the athletes and coaches the very best as they represent Bermuda in St. Kitts.
|
|
|
Sunday, July 05, 2026
|
|
SKAVA Ready for ECVA U20 Beach Championship
|
The St. Kitts Amateur Volleyball Association (SKAVA), in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) and the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation, will host the 2026 ECVA U20 Men’s and Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship from July 10–12 on the sands of Frigate Bay.
The zonal championship will bring together the top U20 men’s and women’s beach volleyball pairs from across the Eastern Caribbean, providing an important stage for the region’s rising talent. All matches will be played under the current FIVB Official Beach Volleyball Rules of the Game.
Competition will take place throughout the three-day event, offering spectators the opportunity to enjoy high-level beach volleyball in one of the Caribbean’s most scenic coastal destinations.
Eleven ECVA member territories are expected to participate: Grenada (GRN), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN), Saint Lucia (LCA), Dominica (DMA), Antigua and Barbuda (ANT), Sint Eustatius (EUX), St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN), Anguilla (AGU), Sint Maarten (SXM), British Virgin Islands (IVB), Bermuda (BER)
The championship serves as a key development opportunity for the region’s young athletes while also contributing to the promotion of sport tourism in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The event is being staged with the valuable support of the Association of National Olympic Committees of the Eastern Caribbean States (ANOCES), the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), and the St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC), alongside ECVA, NORCECA, and SKAVA.
|
|
|
Thursday, July 02, 2026
|
|
Barnett & Somerville Set to Compete in Honduras
|
The Bermuda Volleyball Association (BVA) announced that Benjamin Barnett and Connor Somerville will represent Bermuda at the 7th stop of the 2026 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour, taking place in Roatán Island, Honduras, from July 10th – 12th, 2026.
The team has trained extensively in preparation for the event under the guidance of Head Coach Rick Bevis, with training focused on continuing to develop technical execution, tactical awareness, and consistency in competition. Coach Bevis is currently in Bermuda under a partnership between the BVA and FIVB, the international Federation governing the sport of Volleyball globally.
This tournament is the 7th stop on the prestigious NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour, which brings together many of the top beach volleyball teams from across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The event provides valuable international competition and development opportunities for Bermuda's athletes as they continue to gain experience against some of the region's strongest teams.
The team will face pairings from Canada, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S.A., and the hosts, Honduras.
Benjamin Barnett is looking forward to the opportunity to compete on the international stage. "I am very excited to represent Bermuda in Honduras. This tournament represents a great opportunity for us to compete against high-level opponents, and we are excited to put all of our training into practice at this elite level," said Barnett.
Somerville echoed that excitement; "We've been putting in a lot of work during training, and I'm looking forward to testing ourselves against some of the best teams in the region. It's an honour to represent Bermuda, and we're ready to compete," said Somerville.
The Bermuda Volleyball Association wishes Benjamin and Connor every success as they compete in Honduras and proudly represent Bermuda.
|
|
|
|
