T&T faced an uphill task to hold onto its title in the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Youth Girls (Under-18) Championship when it came up against round-robin winner and unbeaten Barbados in the first semifinal which was scheduled for last night at the Sentro Deportivo Sala Errol Rooi facilities in Willemstad, Curacao.
This after the Nicolette De Mille led squad was upstaged by Bonaire, 23-25, 13-25, 25-19, 17-25 to end with a 1-2 record in the four-team round-robin series, the same as Bonaire and Curacao. However, both teams won more sets than T&T to end on five points, one ahead of the three-time reigning champion while Barbados topped the pool with a 3-0 record and maximum 15 points.
For Bonaire, it was purely a one-woman wrecking show as captain Jahena Angela hammered home a tournament-best 32 laced with 26 spikes, three blocks and three aces, Saitha Clarinda and Daniela Drullard added five apiece and T&T contributed 45 errors. On the other side of the net, T&T captain Nicolette De Mille led her team for the third straight match in scoring with 14 while Tsyan Selvon got eight, Anika Busby five and Britney Choon, four.
Coming off a tough five-set win over host Curacao in the morning session on Friday, the T&T girls looked a tired bunch and were outscored in spikes, 20-32 and blocks 3-5, while both teams had 13 service aces. In Friday’s final round-robin match, Barbados ended with a perfect 3-0 record ahead of last night’s semifinal after breezing past host Curacao, 25-8, 25-15, 25-13 in 56 minutes.
For the Barbadians, who are favourites to dethrone T&T as three-time reigning champions, captain Ashley Jordan had a match-high 15 points, helped by 13 spikes while Aaliyah Durant added 10, Shanae Boyce eight and Risa Niles, seven. It was another dominant display from Barbados as they outscored Curacao in all key aspects of the contest, 30-6 on spikes, and 11-1 on aces while both teams had five blocks.
Curacao, which ended the round-robin with a 1-2 record and committed 29 errors to the Barbadians 24, got five points from Jewengley Hart while Anais Conradus got three and Shuhainy de Windt, two in the loss. Bonaire and Curacao faced off in the second semifinal last night ahead of today’s bronze medal and gold medal matches.