Barbados defeated Suriname 3-1 to win the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) boys' Under-19 tournament at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, Spanish Town, St Catherine, Jamaica on Saturday night.
Barbados exhibited power throughout the match to prevail with set scores of 25-15, 25-15, 31-29, 25-19 and win their third title in the sixth edition of the competition after victories in 2007 and 2013.
The other winners were Curacao in 2010, the United States Virgin Islands in 2012 and Jamaica in 2015.
Barbados sprayed their opponents with powerhouse serves and spikes throughout the match as Suriname found no answer to the assault. They also nullified the Suriname attack with effective blocks.
Barbados' coach Elwyn Oxley believes teamwork was what carried him to victory in the week-long tournament.
Oxley said, "the thing that worked for us, was teamwork. I always told them to respect one another no matter what they did. I see teammates from other teams that made mistake and other players were upset with them but I told my guys that if a player makes a mistake, somebody must have his back and lift him and go again. This is a family and that is what brought us through to win this championship.
"I am happy for these youngsters because they worked hard and put in a lot of work. It wasn't easy getting here because everything is a cost, but they found ways. They did car washes and did all kind of things to raise money to come here. So for that alone and the effort that they put in to be here and coming and winning I am so happy for them," Oxley said.
Earlier in the day, Jamaica defeated T&T 19-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-14 to win third place.
In the girls' Under-18 final, Suriname dismissed Barbados 25-8, 25-21, 25-23 and claim the title for the first time in the competition's fifth staging. T&T won the competition thrice and Barbados once.
According to coach Janice Valies, Suriname game plan worked, as they nullified Barbados' main power hitter Tenneille Chapman-Goodluck by serving well.
Valies said, "my girls are excited we wanted it and we played for it. We minimised the main player (Chapman-Goodluck) and subbed her out. That was the first time in the whole tournament that she was subbed out.
"We minimised their attacks by having tough serves. If you minimise the pass they are not able to attack so, by having a strong serve we were able to break them," Valies said.
Her assistant, Sandrina Hunsel, chimed in, "we broke them into little pieces."
Earlier in the day, United States Virgin Islands won a third place by defeating T&T 24-14, 25-17, 29-27.