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Bermuda stun Faroe Islands in thriller

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Photo by Mark TatemAction from today's women's beach volleyball

Nothing could put a damper on a great day for Bermuda’s men’s volleyball outfit, not even a heartbreaking 3-2 loss tonight to defending Island Games gold medallists Saaremaa in the nightcap at CedarBridge Academy.Earlier in the day, Bermuda had pulled off the upset of the Games, beating the defending silver medallists from the Faroe Islands 3-2 in a five-set thriller at Berkeley Institute.Bermuda’s record in the straight round robin tournament stands at 1-2. The host side have matches to come against Gotland (at Berkeley), Guernsey and Greenland. A sweep of those matches would give Bermuda a 4-2 record.“We certainly have a chance to medal now,” said Bermuda captain Mike Gazzard. “When we beat the Faroe Islands, the light went off in our heads ‘we can really do this’.”Bermuda fell behind 2-0 to Saaremaa, dropping sets of 25-22 and 25-19. The men roared back to post 25-22 and 25-21 verdicts in front of a loud and proud partisan crowd before losing the fifth set, 15-8.Saaremaa, Estonia’s largest island, have won every men’s volleyball gold at the Island Games since 2003.“I am pretty excited about it, even if it is a loss,” Gazzard said. “No one expected us to take two games off Saaremaa. We did, and that has put us on the map here this week. A couple of our young guys, Eron Woods and Daniel Fiddick, really stepped up today but it has been a real team effort. We are also thrilled to be getting such great crowd support.”Saaremaa head coach Hannes Sepp paid tribute to Bermuda. “They have a very good team,” he said, but he noted that five of Saaremaa’s top players are on duty with the Estonian national team, while two of their top young players are also absent.“Our seven best players are not here,” Sepp said. “We have four players here from the team that won the Island Games gold medal in 2011. This is really our second team.”Earlier today, Bermuda roared back from a 2-1 deficit to claim the upset victory against the Faroe Islands. The scores were 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15-9.Bermuda’s women fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-18) to Saaremaa last night, also at CedarBridge, to see their record fall to 1-1 in Pool A play. Saaremaa’s women won Island Games gold in 2011, one of six times they have done so.Bermuda’s women take on the Cayman Islands tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Institute.The Bermuda II women’s beach team of Stacey Dorush and Heather Wearmouth concluded Pool A play with a 1-1 record after beating the Jersey duo of Anna Ryszawy and Dominika Thomas 2-1 (20-22, 21-16, 15-10). Bermuda II lost their opening match to one of the pre-Games favourites, Menorca.A change in strategy paid dividends, Dorush said. “We started off with a block, but took the block off about halfway through the match,” she said. “This is the first tournament together for Heather and I, so the whole experience is very new. We are learning as we go, and getting better as we go along.”The Bermuda II men’s beach team of Sebastian Iaxx and Wesley Toavs evened their Pool D record at 1-1 with a 2-0 (21-9, 21-7) win over the Isle of Man team of Daniel Smith and Michael Travers. This is the first Island Games for 51-year-old Toavs, while Iaxx played for Bermuda’s indoor team at the 2011 Games.“We were a little more relaxed today,” Iaxx said. “In the first match, we were nervous, and held back. On Sunday, against Jersey, every mistake was very, very expensive. We had a bit more of a margin for error today.”In yesterday’s evening session, Iaxx and Toavs fell 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) to the Saaremaa duo of Slim Polluaar and Keith Pupart.The Bermuda I men’s team of Yves Charbonneau and David Gazzard fell to 1-1 in Pool C play with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-19) loss to the Cayman II team of Olney Thompson and Philippe Deslandes.The Bermuda I women’s team of Claudia Stich and Allison Lacoursiere fell 2-0 (21-11, 21-15) to the Cayman team of Cristin Alexander and Jessica Wolfenden during the morning session but rebounded in the afternoon to record their first victory, beating the Faroe Islands team of Lena i Bud and Gudrid Syderbo 2-1 (21-14, 13-21, 15-10) to finish round robin play with a 1-2 record.“We were the last of Bermuda’s volleyball teams to win a match, but we finally have some points on the board,” Stich said. “Our nerves are getting a little better, I think. Now that the round robin is over, the playoffs begin and nothing is impossible.”Women’s beach playoffs tomorrow today at 11 a.m. and continue throughout the day and into tomorrow.Bermuda’s beach men complete round robin play tomorrow, with the Bermuda II team taking on Cayman Islands I at 9 a.m. and Bermuda I facing Menorca at 10 a.m.Beach medal matches will take place on Wednesday with the bronze medal matches at 5 p.m. (women) and 6 p.m. (men) and the gold medal matches at 7 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).