Jabarry Goodridge registered a match high 18 points as Barbados swept past T&T 25-19, 25-21, 25-13 in the first semifinal at the Ninth Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Junior Men's Championship.
This was at the Paul Chonchon Sports and Cultural Centre, Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe on Saturday night.
Goodridge had 17 kills in his tally while captain Ammuniki Wood and Andriy Stapleton got seven points each, and Kimar Hinds, five, for the 1997 and 2005 champions who advanced to their first final in eight years with the 76 minutes win.
T&T, which was hoping to get to its first ever final at this level and entered the match as the only team to win its two round-robin matches in the tournament to top Pool B was led by Nicholas Prescott's 17 points, 15 of which were kills while captain Newton Grant had a quiet night with six points.
It was an overall dominant showing by the Pool A third placed finishers Barbados, who led 32-26 on spikes, 6-4 on blocks and 5-2 on service aces, and committed fewer errors as well, 21 to T&T's 32.
Speaking after the loss, Grant who had hopes of improving on his team's bronze medal showings in 2009 and2011 said it seemed as though his team was not mentally prepared for the match in addition to having an off day with their passing.
"We just did not show up and a very good Barbados team took full advantage of that. Congrats to Barbados and best of luck to them in the final.
"We have one more match to play and we will be coming out to get the bronze medal to show for our efforts," ended Grant.
Wood said his team worked very hard and play a good match to stop a strong T&T team.
He added, "We have played up and down in the tournament so far, but tonight we lifted our game considerably and for the final we will try to keep focus and keep our level of play up."
David Camacho, T&T coach congratulated Barbados on the win saying that they showed up with a game plan and stuck to it.
"As I said before the team that makes the least amount of errors will win each match and we made too many on passes to have a chance.
He added, "Losing the semifinals is always a disappointed but it's a something we will have to deal with and come back tomorrow and play as hard as possible and get something tangible for our efforts in the tournament, which is the bronze.'
John Stuart, Barbados coach was quick to point out that playing against T&T has always been a tough fight for Barbados due to both countries rivalry and his team needed to stick to its plan, play with confidence and simple, which they did.
In the second semifinal on the night, Gilbert Vivo led three players in double-digit scoring as defending champions Curacao powered past Bahamas 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 25-14 in one hour and 47 minutes.
Vivo led all scorers with 20 points, while captain Sharif Gabriel added 17, laced with 13 kills and three blocks, and Derrick Alexander 14, all on kills as the Dutch-speaking country set up a gold medal match with two-time champions Barbados last night (Sunday).
Jamiro Hazel chipped in with eight points and Jeandray Philips six for Curacao which showed off its all round solid game which was reflected in the final statistics, 49-29 on spikes, 11-8 on blocks and 8-6 on service aces.
The lone weak point for Curacao, which now has a chance to avenge its first day loss to Barbados in their round-robin Pool A opener, in five sets, was it committed 34 errors to the Bahamians, 29.
The duo of Antonio Jennings and captain Rajahl Moxey scored 12 points each for Bahamas, while Kenton Dawkins got eight in the loss.
Also on Saturday, Aseah Thomas and captain Nayib Gonzalez tallied a combined 43 points as US Virgin Islands made full use of host Guadeloupe's 48 errors to come away with a 25-21, 20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-9 win in their fifth place playoff.
Thomas finished with 23 points, 15 of which were kills, seven aces and one block while Thomas had 20 points all on kills in the match which was just five minutes short of two hours.
The duo of Tahir Williams and Kyu Matthews added five points apiece for USVI which overpowered on kills, 43-46 and 5-7 but held its own on service aces 9-5.
Malick Frederic was the main scorer for Guadeloupe with 22 points, made up of 16 kills and four aces while Yannis Biodore added 15, 14 of which were kills and Meidhy Tacita, ten, with seven coming off blocks.
Sylvain Dolius also got nine and Steeve Burgatha six in the loss for Guadeloupe, which was second to Curacao in the 2011 tournament held in Jamaica, and also second six years ago in USVI behind the now defunct Netherlands Antilles.
On Friday, captain Rajahl Moxey led by example with 16 points as little fancied Bahamas stunned US Virgin Islands 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-17, 26-24) in the first quarterfinal.
Kenton Dawkins added ten points, seven of which were kills and three blocks while Justin Smith added nine and Christopher Cash eight points for the Bahamians who entered the match with a 0-2 record.
This after losing their two Pool A round-robin matches to group winner T&T (0-3) and runner-up Guadeloupe, (1-3).
US Virgin Islands was led by its captain Nayib Gonzalez who scored a match high 20 points, inclusive of 16 kills and three aces.
The losers also got 16 points from Aseah Thomas, 14 of which came via kills in the one hour and 41 minutes contest which was briefly stopped in the fourth set with both teams locked at 21-21, due to sunlight in the players face.
Despite the powerful spiking of Gonzalez and Thomas, the balance Bahamas attack was more effective on the night, and held a 38-34 advantage on spikes as well as blocks, 8-6 while USVI was slightly better on service aces, 7-6.
However, USVI has itself to blame for not at least extending the match to five sets as their inconsistent play accounted for 43 errors as compared to Bahamas' 35.
In the other quarterfinal Jabarry Goodridge and captain Ammuniki Wood combined for 29 points and Barbados outplayed host and 2011 runner-up Guadeloupe 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-21).
The lanky Goodridge was almost unstoppable on the night with 16 kills and two service aces in his 18 points while Wood had 11 points, mainly through his five blocks.
The duo of Chioke Holder and Andriy Stapleton added seven points each and Carlos Cyrus six, in the 88 minutes victory for the Barbadians who dominated in spikes, 37-28, blocks 11-7 and service aces, 3-2 while also committing fewer errors on the night, 17 to its opponents, 24.
Malick Frederic had the hot hand for Guadeloupe with 12 points and Yannis Biodore added 11 in the loss as the host fell short of its goal to become only the second country to win the title on home soil.
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