T&T served off its bid for a third straight podium finish at the tenth Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Junior (Under-21) Men’s Championship on a losing note, 20-25, 12-25, 18-25 to host and defending champions Barbados at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium, Wildey, St Michael, Barbados on Monday night.
Displaying great experience and power the Barbadians got a team-high 13 points from vice-captain Adam Niles, while captain Andriy Stapleton added 12 in the straight sets Group B win.
For the host, attacking contributions also came from middle Shamar Bishop and opposite Carlos Cyrus which allowed coach John Stuart to use just seven players to complete the victory.
On the other hand, T&T used their full roster but only captain Marlon Philip with 13 points was consistent enough to worry three-time champions Barbados with the home crowd giving great support.
Speaking after the match, Stuart indicated that he was pleased with the performance of his team although he expressed concerns about some of the serving errors. “I am confident that once the guys maintain their level of play and that we reduce the serving errors we should successfully defend our title,” said Stuart.
T&T coach Gideon Dixon quickly labelled Barbados as the team to beat since they appeared to be the strongest unit.
Dickson who is seeking to add to T&T’s third place finish from 2009 and 2011 added: “I was very impressed with the experience and high standard of play of Barbados and I believe that Barbados is the team that we will have to try to stop from winning the gold,” said Dixon.
Also on Monday night, US Virgin Islands and Curacao got impressive Group B wins over Guadeloupe and Aruba, respectively.
In a game of fluctuating fortunes USVI led by the attack of JB Brodie who cracked 13 kills took the tough encounter 26-24, 27-25, 25-22.
Marvin Cancan had a game high 15 points made up of 12 kills for Guadeloupe, but it was not enough to win a set
And in the other Group B match, Curacao dismissed its Ducth brothers Aruba 25-19, 25-21, 25-14
Aruba, returning to competition after many years absence could not match the attacking and blocking power of Curacao.
Both teams were equally matched in ground play of digs and reception but Curacao led by best scorer Shruendy Valeriano and Marlison Kleinmoedig proved too powerful in the critical stages of the match.
Dwayne Angela with nine kills and one ace battled strong for Aruba but he lacked the support with only Ronald Hofstee with eight kills proving to be a challenge for the opponents after building good leads in the first two sets.
Today, T&T will meet 1999 winners Martinique from 6pm while it closes out round-robin play against Haiti from 4 pm.
