The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After losing the first round tie to Venezuela last month, the quartet of Marvin Rolle, Spencer Newman, Phillip Major and Justin Lunn will be in Bolivia next week in their bid to remain in the American Zone II Davis Cup tie.

The team, captained by Rolle, left town yesterday where they will be getting acclimatised to the high altitude in Santa Cruz before they take on Bolivia April 7-9.

“This should be an interesting one. We’re not playing in that high altitude as we played in the past, so I think we should be able to adjust to the altitude,” Rolle said. “The guys are ready. We feel confident. We have been working hard for the past month since the last Davis Cup. The guys are ready to go. We are looking forward to this tie and hoping for big things for the Bahamas.”

Lunn, who played in the rubber match as the No.4 player on the team, said it’s an honour for him to be back on the squad.

“It’s an honour to be on the Davis Cup team and representing your country,” Lunn said. “Having a team behind your back and having an audience is great. We’re getting ready to see if we can pull this off.

“We’re all feeling good. We’re all happy to be ready to play the competition again. It’s amazing to go to Bolivia. It’s my first time. So it’s a good experience for me to see this side of the world.”

They will face a Bolivia team with three of their four players ranked, similar to Venezuela.

The Bolivian players are Federico Zeballos, ranked at No.496 in singles and 375 in doubles, Hugo Dellien, ranked No.606 in singles and 65 in doubles, Boris Arias, ranked No.1,225 in singles and 944 in doubles and Juan Carlos Manuel Aguilar, unranked in singles, but 1,253 in doubles.

Bolivia, captained by Mauricio Solis, is coming off a 3-2 loss to El Salvador in their first-round tie over the weekend of February 3-5 in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Going into the tie, Bolivia hold a slight edge over the Bahamas in the nations’ rankings. While Bolivia is pegged at No.73, the Bahamas is two spots behind at No.75. Puerto Rico sits in the middle at No.74.

The two nations played each other twice, splitting their meetings.

The last came in 2011 in Santa Cruz when Bolivia won 3-0 in the Americas Group III B playoff round. Rolle played on the team that comprised of Devin Mullings, Timothy Neilly and Jamaal Adderley with John Farrington as captain.

Zeballos, Dellien and Arias were on the team, captained by Solis. Mauricio Doria-Medina was the other member of the team.

In their first meeting in the Group III playoffs, the Bahamas team of Rolle, Munnings, Bjorn Munroe and H’Cone Thompson secured a 2-1 win in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Farrington was again the captain.

Bolivia, captained then by Carlos Alvarado, featured Mauricio Estivariz, Mauricio Doria-Medina and Diego Camacho.