Barbados made a feeble start to their bid to qualify for this year’s FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship in Poland by falling to hosts Cuba in straight sets at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum on Wednesday night, newspaper Nation News reported.

In a match that lasted only four minutes past an hour, Cuban coach Rodolfo Sanchez used all of his players of a relatively inexperienced squad to defeat the Barbadian team 25-18, 25-19, 25-14.

Captain Rolando Cepeda led Cuba with 15 points while middle player Isbel Mesa contributed 13, but none of the Barbadians got into double digits. Left-hander Shawn Simpson and Akeem Payne scored five points each while the experienced Fabian Cox, middle Ammuniki Wood and Kyle Browne who came off of the bench contributed four points each.

“Cuba developed a more tactical game and we were not able to make the appropriate adjustment counter-attack. Although I acknowledge it was our first match at this level and we are called to have more synchronisation,” NationNews quoted coach Niles said.

In the opening game of the night, favourites Dominican Republic beat Suriname in straight sets 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 with Miguel Caceres dominating with 16 points for the winners. Two teams will qualify for the World Championship finals in Poland.