Jamaica blanks USVI 3-0 to go atop the table at CASOVA Zonal U21 Championships

By Sports Desk July 10, 2022

Jamaica eased past the challenge of the US Virgin Islands 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-17) at the 2022 Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Junior Men (Under-21) Championship at the Southern Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.

The win means that Jamaica which lost their opening match to Haiti have now improved to a 2-1 record in their five-team round-robin series and stayed in the hunt for the title.

The win lifted Jamaica to 11 points and a top spot on the table followed by Suriname (1-0) with five points, Haiti (1-0) with four points, T&T (1-1) with three points and the winless US Virgin Islands, fifth with two points and a 0-3 record.

“I know the boys worked very hard in the short space of time we had to prepare and in each game we play we have seen a drastic improvement as we have gotten better and better as the matches come along," said a satisfied Steve Davis, Jamaica’s coach following the shut-out performance.

Like his coach, team captain Andrae Robb was also pleased with the nature of the victory.

"We stuck to our game plan and we executed very well which helped us to get the win,” he said.

“Overall, we are happy with the outcome and will now rest ahead of our final match on Monday against Suriname.”

Meanwhile, US Virgin Islands' coach, Isaac Raphael, said his team lacks experience and it showed during the match against Jamaica.

"We know we have a very young team and you can see that the capabilities of the players are right there but our inexperience continues to bite us as we have been guilty of making too many careless errors when we seem to be closing the gap, and it has been hurting us in each game," he said.

Team captain Gabriel Rosa believes his team has to put more significant effort into their contests.

"I believe my team needs to put more energy into our game from the start," he said.

"We have been getting off to slow starts and for us to be competitive we need to have more concentration and focus for our passing and serving game to be effective."

 

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