This country’s junior men’s volleyball team stayed in contention for a medal at the tenth Junior (Under-21) Championships by winning its final two Pool B matches.
Playing at the at the Sir Garfield Sobers (Wildey) Gymnasium, Bridgetown, Barbados, the Marlon “Waldo” Phillip led T&T came from behind to beat Haiti 28-30, 25-17, 25-22, 26-24 and finish round-robin play with a 2-1 record, while its opponent ended 1-2.
By finishing second, T&T will meet Guadeloupe in the 8 pm quarterfinal after US Virgin Islands faces Haiti this evening. On Wednesday night, T&T rebounded from their Group B first game loss against champions and hosts Barbados to stop Martinique 25-12, 18-25, 25-15, 25-11.
The main contributor for T&T was Phillip with 21 points, inclusive of 17 kills while Nathanael Noreiga added 12, and Adriel Roberts 11. For Martinique Rony Dinal got 12 and Boris Agesilas' nine.
Barbados improved its record to 2-0 ahead of last night’s final round-robin match with Martinique (0-2) with its second straight sets win, 25-17, 25-11, 25-12 over Haiti.
In yesterday’s early matches, Curacao ended with a perfect 3-0 record in Pool A after brushing aside Guadeloupe (1-2), 25-18, 25-12, 25-16 while US Virgin Islands finished witha 2-1 record for second with a 25-17, 25-20, 28-26 defeat of winless Aruba
On Tuesday night, Curaçao defeated USVI 28-26, 25-16, 25-16 to improve to 2-0 and Guadeloupe rebounded from its opening loss to beat Aruba 25-14, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19; and Haiti overcame Martinique 25-14, 25-16, 25-13.
Meanwhile, last night in the lone remaining Junior Women’s round-robin match, six-time champions T&T came up against Barbados with both teams looking for a first win after losing to Haiti in Pool D.
On Wednesday, T&T made a losing start to it bid for a seventh title going under to Haiti 23-25, 18-25, 16-25 while the Haitians outplayed Barbados, 26-24, 15-25, 25-14, 25-22 to end with a 2-0 record and an automatic semifinal spot as group winners.
Haiti was joined in the semifinals by Pool C winners, US Virgin Islands which topped its four-team series with a 3-0 record ahead of Curacao (2-1), defending champions Martinique (1-2) and winless Guadeloupe.
Today in the women’s quarterfinals, Barbados and T&T will be in action against either Curacao and Martinique, depending on their final placings in Pool C last night.