By Duncan HallWith fewer than 57,000 people spread out over more than 836,000 square miles, it’s perhaps not surprising that Greenland — the world’s largest island — has difficulty getting their best volleyball players together more than once a year.They were all in one place this week at the Island Games, however, and claimed the bronze medal in the women’s competition with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-21) victory over Bermuda.“The players are spaced out throughout Greenland, and we can’t go from town to town — there is no infrastructure,” said coach Morten Funch after yesterday’s triumph. “We can only go by air or by boat, but that is expensive — and so we only have one club competition each year.”Funch is based in Maniitsoq, a small town located some 200 kilometres north of the capital city of Nuuk. With fewer than 3,000 residents, Maniitsoq is the volleyball capital of Greenland. Many of the national team players originally hail from the town, but now live in Nuuk to work or study.Today, they proved quick studies on the court. Trailing 9-5 in the first set, Funch called a timeout, settled a new service strategy — and Greenland embarked on an 18-5 run that turned the match. Big hitter Paninnguaq Larsen did much of the damage, supported by Mia Mikkelsen, Eufinia Kreutzmann and Nuka Geisler.After winning the second set, Greenland took a 10-3 lead in the third set — but Bermuda battled hard to get back into the set at 21-22 before Greenland closed out the match on Karina Meincke’s serve.“We had watched Bermuda play twice, so we knew what was coming,” Funch said. “Bermuda played a good match, but we played well today. Bermuda might easily have won the last set. We were shaking a bit at the end, but we pulled it off.”The loss was Bermuda’s third in an Island Games women’s volleyball bronze medal match — the team lost to Menorca at both the 2007 and 2009 Games.Bermuda coach Juanita Blee and two players from this year’s squad — Beth Rae and Lisa Leblanc — played in both of those matches.“It was a very disappointing loss today,” Blee said. “The Island Games competition is the pinnacle for us — we have been building for these Games for two years. This is the place where we can compete, and compete well. A placing of fourth in a nine-team event is good. We need to take the positives out of this tournament. I told the girls ‘you need to leave this room with your heads held high — you did what you had to do.”Blee said she was impressed by Greenland’s performance. “They stepped up — and deserved the medal,” she said. “In that first set, Larsen was unstoppable. She played a great match, and we had a hard time defending her. She was phenomenal.”Faroe Islands won the gold with 3-2 comeback victory over defending champions Saaremaa.Faroes won 21-5, 21-5, 16-25, 21-25 (15-7).The two teams have won the gold on seven occasions. Faroes in 2009, 2005, 2003 and 2001, and Saaremaa in 2011 and 2007.