Nassau, The Bahamas, August 18 – The heat increased significantly today on Day Three of the 19th CAZOVA tournament being played here in Nassau, The Bahamas yesterday.
Curaçao established themselves as serious contenders for the men’s gold with a royal dismissal of former 10 times kings Barbados 20-25, 25-14, 26-24, 25-21. Awesome ground defence by Curaçao rewarded with smoking counter attacks stunned the Bajans.
Once again the trio of captain Akeel Oxley, 13 kills and one ace, Jabarry Goodridge, 12 kills and Ahkeem Mayers 12 kills carried the game for Barbados. However, the power of Derwin Colin’s 11 kills and two aces and Timothy van Henneigen 10 kills snatched the game for Curaçao.
Curaçao with just the winless Guadeloupe to play are almost assured of claiming the semifinals direct ticket from Group B. Barbados are to play their arch rivals Trinidad and Tobago to determine the second and third spots in that group.
T&T claimed their first win dismissing Guadeloupe 25-17, 25-17, 25-17. Captain Daynte Stewart led his team with seven kills and four aces with Michael Burnette adding seven solid kills.
Jordy Bihary countered with eight kills for Guadeloupe in a match which last 11 minutes over the hours. T&T cashed in on 37 points from their opponents’ errors while Guadeloupe were gifted 24 by T&T.
