The Norceca Volleyball Confederation reports from Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, that Aseah Thomas had a tournament high 22 points to lead the U.S. Virgin Islands past a flat Barbados 3-1 (14-25, 25-20, 25-22) in their final Pool A round-robin match for a three-way tie at the top of the table at the Ninth CAZOVA Junior U21 Men’s Championship at the Paul Chonchon Sports and Cultural Centre.
Thomas had 18 kills in his tournament high match score while the captain, Nayib Gonzalez, added a valuable 13 points, including three blocks in the one hour and 49 minutes win.
For the Barbadians, who just needed a win to top the group and secure an automatic semifinal spot, Jabarry Goodridge was once again their main contributor with 14 points while the captain, Ammuniki Wood, got nine.
With the four sets win, U.S. Virgin Islands ended with five points and a (1-1) record, one point behind Curacao, which also ended with a 1-1 mark while Barbados, the other team in the group, tallied four points and a 1-1 record as well.
This meant that Curacao, the defending champions, advanced straight to Saturday’s semifinals as group winners based on point while U.S.V.I. and Barbados, second and third in the group respectively, will play in Friday’s quarterfinal.
Gonzalez was quick to admit that his team was very sloppy early on, but the coach spoke to them, told them to settle down, and they got organized.
“We then began to play a better game and eventually took control of the match. With the win our confidence is now very high, but it is important that we don’t get too ahead of ourselves going into the next match. We have to remain focused and plan well for whoever we face,” said Gonzalez.
Wood, commenting on the loss, said his team fell apart after getting what he described as a great start. “We won the first set by playing some good volleyball, but U.S.V.I. then stepped up their game while ours fell apart,” he said. “When they went ahead we knew it was going to be tough from our past experiences, and now we have to focus on our next match in the quarterfinals and play much better to get to the semifinals.”
