Bermuda’s silver-medal winners at the Eastern Caribbean Beach Volleyball Championships are flying home to the island in a state of euphoria.

The women’s pairing of Megan Hands and Hailey Moss finished runners-up at the tournament despite losing their first two matches in St Lucia, while the men’s team of Benjamin Barnett and Sean Tucker won every match before losing an epic final to the home nation.

For Barnett, who also coaches, the medals are vindication of the metrics put in place by the Bermuda Volleyball Association after the indoor women’s team also won a silver medal at the same level last year.

“Our result here is testament to the Bermuda Volleyball Association and how they structure the programmes and support players,” Barnett said.

“Sean and I are also coaches, so there are a lot of people doing double duty and a lot of people dedicated to improving the level of volleyball and seeing results. We’re just happy that we have come out here and shown everybody what we’re working at.

“From a smaller island like Bermuda, being able to come and fight with the best of them is great and we’ve continually raised the standard. The indoor women’s team won silver at their event last year and now the beach teams have done the same.

“We keep advancing and we’re so elated to do that for Bermuda and show what power we have in volleyball. We’re trying to become a force in the Caribbean.”

Barnett made it to the quarter-finals with a different partner last year and had no real expectation of making it on to the podium.

“We were all standing up there almost with impostor syndrome but really proud of where we finished,” he said.

“I was hoping to improve and make the top four and we didn’t expect to be in the finals, but how we played and how we stuck together, I think we deserved it.

“We did well in our pool but there was a lot to improve on. We kept at it, kept improving and in the final we had all the energy in the first set.

“We were playing well but we are not used to being in finals. We’re hoping to get used to it but it was a new feeling and ultimately the experience of the St Lucia team won out. It was fantastic to be a part of it and we are going to hunt more podiums in the future.”

Tucker had played with Barnett as a team just once before but they have a strong friendship built over a number of years.

“Ben and I go way back, we went to school together and we’ve always had a good connection on and off the court,” Tucker said.

“So when we were chosen to go on this trip we were excited for each other. We knew the communication and connection would be solid and we just needed to hone in our skills and get the whole picture together, so we’re proud of that.

“It was a good experience. There was a decent crowd of people chanting when we were got our medals and it was a fun vibe.”

Hands and Moss lost in the bronze-medal match at this tournament last year and made it to the final the hard way after losing their opening two matches. But the team kept the faith in their processes and their form improved dramatically.

“Losing a couple of games before winning can really be put down to us becoming more comfortable with each other and realising what we were doing wrong and being able to fix it as the tournament went on,” Hands said

“The second and third day our energy was up. We were pretty exhausted on the first day just from travel and tournament pick-ups, so being able to settle in helped us. We were reviewing the teams that we played and that helped us with the mindset.

“By the time we got to the final we were pretty calm as getting to the final was the big moment, especially after last year when we got to the semi-finals and lost. By the time we got to the finals our nerves had settled.”

Moss was delighted to pick up a medal after the disappointment of last year, with the performance all the more meritorious after a lack of training time.

“We haven’t trained a lot together in the past year as we are both at separate schools and I don’t play at school,” Moss said.

“But this year our energy and communication was so good. Just being in the right mindset and keeping the positive energy helped. It feels great after losing the bronze-medal match last year to come home with something this year.

“Last year we played great but this year we’ve improved so much. It’s really exciting for us to move past what we accomplished last year and achieve something better.”