T&T’s Under-18 Girls’ and Under-19 Boys’ will play for bronze medals in the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Youth (Under-19 and Under-18) Championships today.
The local girls will meet US Virgin Islands at the G.C Foster College Physical Education and Sports Centre in St Catherine, Jamaica, from 1 pm.
Winners of the first three stagings of the competition in 2007, 20012 and 2013, T&T's young women came up short in a bid to contest a fourth gold medal after losing out to unbeaten Suriname 14-25, 13-25, 21-15 in their semifinal at the same venue yesterday.
In the final, which serves off from 3 pm, Suriname will come up against reigning champions Barbados, after the latter dispatched US Virgin Islands 25-13, 25-16, 16-25, 25-13 in their semifinal
On Thursday night in the quarterfinals, T&T, bronze medal winners in 2015 and USVI advanced to the semi-finals with wins over Jamaica and Guadeloupe respectively.
T&T defeated Jamaica 25-22, 25-17, 25-13 and USVI overcame Guadeloupe 25-21, 25-10, 20-25, 25-15.
Last night, the T&T Under-19 boys met Jamaica with both teams locked on 1-2 win-loss records and already assured of meeting today again for the bronze medal from 11 am.
This after defending champion Barbados swept USVI 3-0 to end the latter's chances of sneaking into the fourth spot. US Virgin Islands went into the match with a 0-3 mark and needed a win to have any chance of overhauling T&T or Jamaica for the fourth spot.
In the final today, Barbados (4-0) and Suriname (3-1) will do battle from 5 pm with the Bajans starting as favourites after winning their round-robin clash 10-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-21.
The tournament is serving as the first round of the Under-18 Girls’ and Under-19 Boys’ FIVB World Championships qualification, with the winners of the tournaments advancing to the second round in August 2020 in Puerto Rico and USA respectfully.