Jamaica cruises past Guadeloupe for semis spot

ST CROIX, Virgin Islands, July 19, 2012 - Jamaica continued its surprise run at the 14th Senior Men's Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Championship sweeping past Guadeloupe in three sets to reach the semifinals.

After just squeezing past Martinique on points ratio to secure a quarterfinal spot, Jamaica made full use of its chance and breezed to a 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 win in 72 minutes to set up a semifinal meeting on Friday night against either defending champions Trinidad &Tobago.

Leading the way for Jamaica was 17-year-old Ryck Webb with a match-high 14 points while captain Dillon Brown got 11, Dennis Nelson ten and Conaradio Taylor, eight. Jordy Bihary was the lone Guadeloupean player in double-figures with ten points.

Brown admitted his Jamaica team-mates expected more of a fight from the Guadeloupe team based on what they had seen so far in the competition.

"We knew what we had to do and take it point by point and our service game was a big plus for us to today,” he said. “It may have seemed an easy win but it was not because we have a limited team of eight players and we still had to work for our points,”

In the other quarterfinal, the perennial champions Barbados kept in the hunt to add to its tenth regional senior men titles when it turned back hosts US Virgin Islands in four-sets.

With the 25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21 win in one hour, 50 minutes, Barbados which last won the tournament in 2006 and was beaten finalist at home two years later, set up a semifinal clash with unbeaten Bahamas on Friday night,

Two hours earlier on Friday, defending champions, T&T and Jamaica face off in the first semifinal, two days after meeting in Pool A round-robin play in which the champions won in five-sets. Both T&T and Bahamas, qualified for the last-four automatically after topping Group A and Group B with 3-0 and 2-0 records respectively.

For Barbados Shawn Simpson had 15 points, Akeem Payne added 13, Fabian Cox got 12 and Daran Gill, eight while USVI captain Alvaro DeLugo led all scorers with 16. Overall Barbados was a dominant force and held a 12-7 and 6-1 margin on blocks and service aces.

Ludger Niles, coach of the victorious Barbadians said he is happy that his team continues to show improvement in each match.

"We started well but then in the second set we made a big error with regards to our set-up and was penalized four points, but the guys showed tremendous character to come back and only lose by three points and that fighting spirit goes well for the team as we go into the semifinals.”

In the first match on Friday, quarterfinal losers, Guadeloupe and USVI meet for fifth spot from with the loser set to meet Pool A fourth placed finishers, Martinique for seventh and eighth place on Saturday's final day of competition.