Jamaica finished sixth as the 8th Junior Caribbean Volleyball Championship ended at the University of Technology Auditorium last night.

The O’Neil Ebanks-guided Jamaica, who bettered their seventh place of four years ago when they last competed, exacted revenge against Bahamas in the seventh place play-off yesterday morning, winning the four-setter 23-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-15.

Power hitter Ryck Webb slammed 22 spikes for his 27 points in the match, with Ackeem West adding 17 points (11 spikes) and Jovanny Clarke contributing 16 points to wrap up the match in one hour 37 minutes. Kurtwood Green Jr was the only spark for the Bahamians with 11 points.

In the fifth-place play-off later yesterday afternoon the US Virgin Islands (USVI) repelled Jamaica 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 in a match lasting one hour and four minutes.

Recording their only victory in the tournament, USVI were rewarded for their team effort with Razeem Huggins topscoring with 11 points, supported by Jose Santos Jr (10 points) and Aseah Thomas (nine points).

Meanwhile Jamaica’s Webb carved out a game-high 22 points, which included 16 spikes, with West getting on the scoresheet with eight points (five spikes).

Coach Ebanks was all about positivity.

“I’m looking at from where this side started to where they are now. The thing we have to work on is closing out our game. We did not have the fairytale ending that we were aiming for but nevertheless we some positives out of it,” he stressed.

USVI head coach Michael Richardson was just happy with the experience his players gained.

“… We are glad that JaVA and CAZOVA was able to organise such an experience for the players. The team finally played the game they wanted and we look forward to partcipating in the next tournament,” he said.

Curacao outfought Guadeloupe 29-27, 20-25, 25-27, 25-11, 23-21 to secure gold, with the French-speaking Caribbean country taking the silver in a fitting finale to the championship with the spectators split on who they thought would win.

In the end the CAZOVA Youth reigning champions, Curacao, won the over two-and-a-half-hour thriller.

Earlier, Brandon Legall slammed 26 spikes in his 29 points to spearhead Trinidad & Tobago to the bronze medal over Barbados. T&T won 25-22, 25-17, 28-26 in the one hour 33-minute match. Jabarry Goodridge led for Barbados with 14 points.