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Saturday, July 11, 2026
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Disappointment for Barnett and Somerville in Roatán
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Bermuda's Benjamín Barnett and Connor Somerville endured another tough day on the sand at the seventh stop of the 2026 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour on Tabyana Beach in West Bay, Roatán.
The island duo began their morning looking to cause an upset in their final Pool B encounter against Canada's Louis Charbonneau and Henry Heider. Despite a spirited effort, the Bermudians succumbed to a straight-sets two-nil defeat. The sharp Canadian pairing took the match twenty-one to fifteen, and twenty-one to fourteen in a brisk thirty-two minute battle.
The result relegated Barnett and Somerville to the classification bracket, where they faced home favorites Reyes and Galvez of Honduras in the thirteen-to-sixteen playoff.
The first set proved to be a highly entertaining, toe-to-toe affair. The Bermudians showed great resilience to push their opponents all the way, only to narrowly lose out twenty-one to nineteen.
The narrow loss seemed to deflate the island tandem, and the Hondurans capitalised on that shift in momentum to run away with the second set twenty-one to twelve. The thirty-eight minute defeat leaves Barnett and Somerville searching for answers as they look ahead to their 15/16th place match tomorrow.
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Saturday, July 11, 2026
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Gazzard & Sousa march into Semi-Finals as Men Bounce Back
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Olivia Gazzard and Isabella Sousa extended their magnificent undefeated run to fire Bermuda into the semi-finals of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association Under-20 Beach Volleyball Championships at Frigate Bay.
Following a flawless opening day at the St Kitts Marriott Resort, the powerhouse women's duo faced a tricky quarter-final assignment against Saint Vincent’s Nayelli Fergus and Reanna Robinson.
Gazzard and Sousa were made to work hard in a high-stakes opening set before clinching it twenty-one to nineteen. They then turned up the pressure in the second set, executing their game plan perfectly to run out twenty-one to fifteen winners and book their place in the final four with a straight-sets victory.
Over in the men's draw, Daniel Morris and Carter Lamb showed tremendous character to salvage their tournament after enduring early heartbreak in the round of twelve.
The Bermudian pairing opened their morning against the British Virgin Islands tandem of Alexander Wheatley and Macmonte Fahie. After dropping the first set eighteen to twenty-one, Morris and Lamb fought back brilliantly to take the second twenty-one to seventeen. However, they ran out of steam in the deciding set, falling nine to fifteen.
Banishing that disappointment, the island duo clicked into gear for the remainder of the day to rattle off back-to-back, dominant victories.
They first overcame a resilient push from Mexico's Shayelle Allwaters and Jahvie Hamilton, displaying great composure to secure a two-nil win with scores of twenty-one to nineteen and twenty-one to fifteen.
Morris and Lamb then saved their most ruthless performance for the final match of the day, dismantling the pairing of Carl Miranda-Gaskin and Kristian Young. The Bermudians controlled the sand from the first whistle, romping to a twenty-one to ten win in the first set before completing a rare and emphatic shutout, twenty-one to zero, in the second to cap a highly dramatic day of competition.
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Friday, July 10, 2026
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Defeats for Barnett & Somerville on Opening Day in Roatán
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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.
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Friday, July 10, 2026
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Mixed fortunes for Bermuda at ECVA U20 Beach Championships
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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.
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Tuesday, July 07, 2026
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Bermuda U20 Teams Set for ECVA Beach Championships
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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.
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