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7News caught up with the team as they arrived home this afternoon, and they commented on the tough competition they faced. Here's what they told us about their experience, which included winning a set against the host country, Panama, which is ranked among the highest in the tournament.

Alan Sharpe, Coach - women's senior team
"We just came back for the world championship qualification tournament first round Group G whereby they had some countries from Central America and countries out of the Caribbean and we manage to place 3rd. It's the first time for female volleyball to medal at the senior level, so this is a major accomplishment for the female volleyball in Belize. There were a total of 4 teams - the way it's played; it's in a round-robin format so you have teams that have to compete to get points. It's based on a point system. We played very close matches with the teams that we did not beat and in fact we manage to take a set and almost pull the match against Panama who is the highest ranked of the teams we met there - they are the second rank in Central America and we came so close but I think we loss due to the lack of experience."

"We look forward to the second round next year. We have time to prepare; it's going to be against higher level teams. We know that we have the talent, it's just whether we can get all the support."

Tichele Solis, Recognized for superior attacking
"I came in 4th for best score. It's an amazing experience to be competing at such a high level of volleyball. We could have done better, but you know it's the experience that we are gathering and by the next tournament - the next round for this qualification we expect to do much better and grow stronger as a team. Panama had a very senior team and so they more experience that us and the experience was a huge factor in our game but we still manage to take a set from a team that is rank #2 in Central America, so we are very proud of ourselves for that."

Jasmine Anderson, Recognized for best Libero
"I played the libero position; the libero goes in a volleyball game as a passing specialist, so it's basically a defensive position."

Daniel Ortiz
"In this particular tournament you were dubbed the best defender of the tournament."

Jasmine Anderson, Recognized for best Libero
"Yes, there are other awards for digging and also for receiving but I think the libero position is all those combine. I didn't do it by myself; a libero position is only as good as the blocking - the girls marked excellently and I was able to dig a lot of balls because the blocking was very good."

In addition to Jasmine Anderson being recognized the best libero, she also placed a 2nd for Best Receiver. Team members, Shelmadine Cacho and Shantell Arnold were tied at 3rd for Best Blocker while Sherylee Young-Thurton was the second Best Server of this particular round.