JAMAICAN squash starlet Alyssa Mullings had to settle for second place as her quest to defend her Under-17 title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association’s (CASA) Junior Championships was thwarted by Barbadian Amanda Haywood.

A shoo-in to win the title, Mullings went into the tournament ranked number one in the age group; but she went down 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 to Haywood in the final on Monday night.

In reflecting on the upset, Mullings said she will have to go back to the drawing board and improve her game.

“It was a good match; my opponent played well and unfortunately I was outplayed. You win some, you lose some, and I will need to reassess my game and fix some things,” she said.

In a similar vein, a number of the Jamaican players found the going rough at the competitive regional tournament. All Jamaica Under-17 boys’ champion Tahjia Lumley was beaten 11-5, 11-1, 6-11,11-6 in the semi-finals by Josiah Griffiths of Barbados, but managed to rebound to take third place after beating his countryman Jonathan Walker 11-9, 11-8, 13-11.

Team captain, All Jamaica Under-19 champion Jake Mahfood finished fourth in his age group after losing 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 13-11 to Caymanian Julian Jervis in the semi-finals, and then 16-14, 7-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8 to perennial rival Nyron Joseph of Guyana in the third place play-off.

It was a similar result for both All Jamaica Under-19 girls champion Mary Mahfood and All Jamaica Under-15 champion Mia Mahfood. Mary Mahfood fought hard but was outplayed by Guyana’s Larissa Wiltshire, who beat her 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7 to take third place; while Mia Mahfood was fourth after losing 8-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-7 to Jade Pitcairn of Cayman.

Junior Squash Programme manager Gill Binnie said although the players were somewhat disappointed, the focus was now on the team competition which kicked off yesterday.

“While we didn’t necessarily get the results we were looking for in the individual categories, we are now focused on the team events where both the girls and the boys have a strong chance for a top-three finish,” she said. “So the team is now looking to regroup and put in some solid performances.”

The 2015 Caribbean Area Squash Association’s Junior Championships is being held in Barbados and will run until July 25.