Bahamas take down Barbados in CAZOVA

PARIMARIBO, Suriname, August 12 – Bahamas proved clutch down the homestretch in all three sets when they began their campaign in style in the Men’s CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) Championships here at the Ismay Van Wilgen Sporthal today. The 2012 champions defeated ten-time champs Barbados 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 in 74 minutes on a day in which both teams will have to return to the court for assignments during the night session.

Despite seeing their 20-17 lead erased in the opening set, the Bahamians were not discouraged as they rebounded reel of the last five points to set a pattern that the rest of the match would follow.

And with the teams also neck and neck in the closing stages of the other two sets, the story was similar as the Bahamians managed to save some vital energy for their meeting against Suriname in the final of today’s four matches.

Lloyd Davis expects a very tough battle against the hosts tonight, especially since they were on a bye during today’s morning session after their four-set victory over Haiti in first match of the competition yesterday.

The Bahamas coach was happy with the performance as he stated: “Very good game, the players lived up to expectations.” “Our goal is to win the tournament.”

Captain Princtanique Wilson, who was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points, said: “today we took care of business” but he wants his players to concentrate more to avoid squandering leads, as they did in the first set today.

His opposite number Shawn Simpson, another one of the three players who scored in double figures (11), pointed out that “we started slowly and it gave the Bahamians belief.”

The ten-time CAZOVA champion, Barbados, was also not happy with “our service reception” and admitted that the “problems have to be worked out” for his team to have any chance against two-time defending champs Trinidad and Tobago in the first game of tonight’s double header.

“We played well in patches, we need to cut out the errors. This tournament will be won consistency” said former national player and current coach Andrew Culpepper.

After the round-robin stage ends on Tuesday morning, the top two teams will battle for the title during the night session, following the bronze-medal match.