Barbados and Suriname will contest the final of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) boys’ Under-19 Championships after they record identical 3-1 victories over United States Virgin Island (USVI) and Jamaica, respectively, at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport yetserday.

Against Jamaica, the Bajans were superior in both attack and defence, as they peppered their hosts with powerful serves and spikes, while consistently blocking their shots to record set scores of 25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-17.

The Jamaicans also assisted in their own demise, as they committed numerous serving and spiking errors and combined with the assault by the Bajans, were befuddled at different stages of the match.

It was the third victory for Barbados as earlier in the tournament they defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-21) and Suriname 3-1 (10-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-21) and remained the only unbeaten team in the competition. They will close out their fixture today when they tackle the US Virgin Islands.

Suriname, on the other hand, combined finesse with power to overcome the USVI 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 25-12. It was their third win of the tournament after victories over Jamaica 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-20) and Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-15). They also lost to Barbados.

Jamaica started the match against Barbados with three unanswered points, but wilted under the bombardment from their opponents to lose the first set. Barbados upped their standard at the start of the second set and shot into a commanding lead with serves and spikes that were unmanageable by the Jamaicans.

The Jamaicans showed some resilience in the third set forcing the Bajans into unforced errors, as their spikes started going wide and long, while they also left a number of balls, which dropped inside.

From a 4-0 start in the fourth set, Barbados continued their dominance over the Jamaicans with spikes to various sections of the court to easily win the set.

Barbados coach Elwyn Oxley said while he was happy with the standard displayed by his players, Jamaica failed to live up to expectations.

“My guys were more or less looking forward to it because we know Jamaica would have been a force to be reckoned with. I am kind of disappointed with the performance by Jamaica. I know they are better, as I have seen them in this tournament play better than that, but I am quite satisfied with the performance of the team,” he said.

Jamaica coach Steve Davis believes the team is learning as the tournament progresses, as the limited time they had to prepare before the tournament hampered their cohesiveness.

“For me, it’s (the match) a winner because every day we see new people step up and provide some experience or play some games that I didn’t expect from them, which shows that if we had time to prepare we would have done a better job in this competition,” Davis said.