It was a very tough day at the office for the United States Virgin Islands (ISV) junior boys and girls teams as both lost their semi-final matches at the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association’s (CAZOVA) U19 Volleyball Championships held in Spanish Town, Jamaica.
This day was not only a rough day for the ISV teams, but three of the four top seeds who won their pools lost their semi-final matches at this event. ISV and Barbados were the top seeds in the girl’s division. Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago (TTO) earned the number one seed in the boy’s competition. The reward for being the best in your pool is a first-round bye in the playoffs. This usually equates to an extra day of rest. But in this case, Jamaica boys, TTO boys, and ISV girls last saw action four days prior to their scheduled semi-final matches. Barbados girls hadn’t seen the court in five days.
ISV boys was the only team who played in the quarter-finals to lose their semi-final match. They lost to TTO in straight sets 25-23; 25-21; 25-22. Despite the straight-set loss, the ISV boys were in this match the entire way. Errors at key moments derailed ISV’s hopes of moving on to the finals. The Virgin Islands held the lead for most of the first and third sets nursing a three-point advantage late in both frames. Their good play would be followed by a missed serve, an errant spike, or a shanked pass, paving a path to the championship game for team Trinidad. Logan Rogers and Armani Anderson were ISV’s top scorers with 12 points each. Jared Brown added 9 kills in a losing effort.
ISV girls lost a marathon match to host Jamaica 25-20; 19-25; 25-15; 23-25; 15-10. The Jamaican ladies seemed to be fueled by the loud and boisterous crowd as they took control of the match from the first set and never let go of the reins. ISV had trouble receiving Jamaica’s serve making their potent offense less effective. Jamaica also built a wall at the net neutralizing ISV’s powerful offensive attack. ISV didn’t help themselves with 10 service errors and 22 attack errors. Jayden Gorman was the top scorer for ISV with 22 points. Vernecia Caines and Zyia Toussaint contributed 9 and 5 kills respectively for the Virgin Islands.
In the other boy’s semi-final match, Barbados defeated Jamaica in straight sets, 25-20; 25-21; 24-13. Barbados will play Trinidad & Tobago in the male championship match at 4 p.m. AST. In the girls second semi-final, Trinidad & Tobago came back to beat Barbados in five sets, 21-25; 16-25; 25-23; 25-22; 15-13. TTO will face host Jamaica at 6 p.m. AST in the female championship.
Both ISV teams will be on the court Saturday fighting for the bronze medal. ISV girls will take on Barbados at 12 p.m. AST. The Virgin Islands boys will have a second crack at Jamaica in their bronze medal match at 2 p.m. AST.
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Game Schedule – All Times Listed are in Atlantic Standard Time (AST)
Saturday
Noon U.S. Virgin Islands vs Barbados Women Third Place Match
2 p.m. U.S. Virgin Islands vs Jamaica Men Third Place Match
4 p.m. Trinidad & Tobago vs Barbados Men Championship Match
6 p.m. Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica Women Championship Match
