Unbeaten Barbados in volleyball semis

Article by SAT

MAKE THAT THREE come-from-behind wins.

The Barbados senior volleyball team rallied from the brink of defeat to stun Jamaica in five sets at the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Men’s Championship in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago.

Jamaica needed only two more points to secure victory (13-8) in the final set, but Barbados won eight of the next nine points to win the Pool E top-of-the-table clash 25-18, 17-25, 25-22, 20-25, 16-14.

Barbados secured the lone automatic semi-final spot from Pool E, while Jamaica will play the Martinique, the third-placed team from Pool D in the quarter-finals. The other match-up will feature Suriname and Haiti.

Defending champions Trinidad and Tobago topped Pool D with an unbeaten 3-0 record, defeating Martinique 25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-8 to get the other automatic semi-final spot.

Barbados captain Shawn Simpson led the team with 18 points and the match-winning block.

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

There was disappointment in the Jamaica camp and coach Gatasheu Bonner said they would have to regroup. (SAT)