campaign with an eighth place finish out of 15 countries at the weekend.

The last of their five matches in five days at the Carlisle Bay Club in Antigua ended in a 3-0 defeat by Guatemala on Saturday in the play-off for seventh place in the Americas Group II tournament.

Fourteen-year-old Sasha Fisher lost the opening singles rubber to Mariola Prado 6-0, 6-3, before Bermuda number one Zarah DeSilva also went down in straight sets to Luisa-Elfride Lopez-Garmendia 6-4, 6-0.

With Tara Lambert rested, Fisher took to the court again for the doubles with partner Shonette Wilson, but went down 6-2, 7-6.

But the defeat could not stop non-playing captain Kelly Holland's team from bettering their previous best finish of 10th, thanks to victories last week over Panama (3-0) and Antigua (2-1).

Puerto Rico won the tournament and were promoted to Group I with the Bahamas.

Holland, speaking from New York's JFK airport between flights on the party's long journey home yesterday, was delighted with her team's week's work in Antigua and with their continued improvement from the Island's previous best showing last year in El Salvador.

And she was impressed that they had done it without Danielle Paynter, a key singles player last year, unavailable this time because of a clash with her exam dates, and with two Fed Cup debutantes, Sasha Fisher and Shonette Wilson.

"We are very pleased, we had a great week,'' said Holland. "We were missing a key player and we had two new players and we still did better than last year.'' Finishing second in their round-robin group of four had earned Bermuda the chance to play off for the positions five to eight -- a new high level for the team.

And Holland felt her players had learned much in the play-offs, despite 3-0 beatings by tough opponents Bolivia and Guatemala.

"It was tough,'' said Holland. "But it was good for the girls to see that level and next year that will make them want to be more prepared.

"Everyone played well. I used Sasha quite a bit because she handled the pressure so well and she was not nervous.'' In every play-off tie to reach 2-0, the teams agreed not to play the remaining dead rubber -- except for Bermuda v Guatemala.

Holland explained she had asked for the doubles to be played to squeeze the maximum benefit out of the trip for her players. "I just felt it was an opportunity we should not pass up,'' she said. "Even though it did nothing for us in terms of the score, it was good for the girls to be able to play another match at that level.''