WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, July 12, 2015 - Trinidad and Tobago secured the bronze medal in the CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) Youth Girls’ Championships with a 25-19, 20-25, 25-14, 25-14 triumph over hosts Curacao.

The match lasted 102 minutes, half-hour less than when they had squared off two days earlier and the same team had prevailed in five sets during the round-robin group stage of the under-18 tournament.

Since then Curacao has lost the services of three of the key players through injuries, and although they were able to win a set, they never really threatened the visitors.

T&T had captured the gold medal in all three previous editions of the tournament, but they were fielding an inexperienced team this time around and were elated with their medal.

As usual, Nicolette De Mille led from the front as the skipper slammed 13 kills in her game-high 17 points. Tsyan Selvon reached double figures for the first time in the tournament with 15 points, three more than Curacao’s leading scorer, their captain Anals Conradus.

The winners dominated on spikes (30-18) and service points (13-3), but the teams had four blocked shots each.

“Very proud of the girls” stated T&T assistant coach Courtnee Mae Clifford, who pointed out that there were a lot of obstacles in preparation, but “we have a bunch of very passionate players.”

Curacao’s coach Patrico Bridgewater stated: “We were stretched to the limit” because of injuries, but he had no excuses and congratulated T&T.