Trinidad and Tobago’s men came up short in their bid to reach a second-ever final at the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association’s (CAZOVA) Junior (Under-21) Championship after a controversial 2-3 (25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 20-25, 11-15) loss to Curacao in the first semifinal here at the La Ville Riviere-Salee Palais Des Sport on Thursday.
With both teams locked at 2-2 and Curacao ahead 6-3 in the decider, T&T were penalised two points to fall further behind at 3-8. And despite clawing their way back to 8-10, they just failed in their efforts to reach another final in the competition’s 12-year history.
Following the match, T&T coach Peer Nassier launched an official protest over the penalties called and outcome but up to press time no decision had been made.
For Curacao, who dominated T&T 56-39 on spikes, Nigel Albertus had a Herculean display, overcoming an injured left knee to tally 25 points, 22 of which were kills in his team’s win.
The pair of captain Joshua Van Henneigen and Jaden Nanaldijk added 17 and 15 valuable points respectively for 2011 champions Curacao, who also benefitted from 40 errors by T&T.
Marley Davidson, who twisted his right ankle at the end of the first set but continued, had the hot hands for T&T with 22 points, laced with 13 kills and seven service aces, while Josiah Constant and Georlani Austin added 11 each, captain Joshua Persaud nine and Jerome Belgrove eight.
T&T were also very strong at the net defensively for the most part, outscoring Curacao on blocks 17-7. But they will now have to played the loser of the second semifinal between reigning three-time defending champions Barbados and Guadeloupe unless their protest is upheld.
Speaking after the match, Nassier said he was not happy with some of the unjust calls made, especially the one that proved costly to his team.
“Outside of that, it was a very gritty and hard-fought game and hats off to Curacao, they did very well to come off with their win against us. We have to regroup and come back and aim for the third spot tomorrow (today).”
He added, “It was a very back and forth match and we ended on the losing end in a very controversial game. We will leave it up to the staff to decide on the next course of action, but we have to prepare for another match tomorrow as best as we could.”
A gleeful Henrich Daal, coach of Curacao, said, “Credit must go to Nigel (Albertus), he got injured and came back and lifted the team on his back and we are happy to move a step closer to our target of winning the gold medal.”