Barbados rallies past Jamaica for semifinal spot

COUVA, Trinidad, July 6, 2017 - Ten-time winners, Barbados reached the semifinals of the 16^th Senior Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association  (CAZOVA) Men’s Championship  with a 3-2 win (25-18, 17-25, 25-22, 20-25, 16-14) win over Jamaica at in their Pool E decider at the National Cycling Centre

With the win, the Barbadians who trailed 8-13 in the final set before winning eight of the next nine points to snatch victory, ended with a 3-0 round-robin record and nine points.

This after they also won their previous two matches against 2012 winners Bahamas and debutants Haiti, by similar 3-2 margin to secure the lone automatic semifinal spot from the pool.

Jamaica, meanwhile ended 2-1 with and will play in Friday’s quarter-final against the third placed team from Pool E.

Team captain, Shawn Simpson was the outstanding scorer for Barbados with 18 points including the match winning block and Kyle Brown added 14 as they made full use of the 51 errors committed by Jamaica.

On the other side of the net, Jahmion Hartley had 18 points for Jamaica, Martin Blake 17 and veteran Dellon Brown, ten.

Jamaica had the better of exchanges on spikes, 44-34 as well as blocks 14-10 and service aces 10-8, but was let down at crucial points by errors.

Following the tense encounter, Jamaica captain, Andre Mc Lean said his team failed to close out the match because they were too inconsistent.

“We played in patches and at a crucial time when we needed to be at our best we were not.”

Barbadian Shawn Simpson was happy that his team managed to get out a difficult match with a win.

“We continue to show our fighting spirit and I am very glad to see this kind of effort from a very young group.”

Jamaica coach Gatasheu Bonner admitted it was a hard loss for his team to accept.

“No team wants to lose a match leading 13-9 in the final set.

“Even though the call was not a good one in my view at 13-14 we should have not allowed Barbados back into the match.”

“It’s a lesson we will learn from and we must regroup for our next match.”