TT U-21 volleyballers protest semis defeat to Curacao

The TT men’s volleyball U-21 team is in the process of protesting their 3-2 semi-final defeat on Thursday to Curacao ahead of Friday’s final in Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Junior tournament played at Rivière-Salée, Martinique.

With the score on 3-4, in the fifth and deciding set, the Barbadian referee Dale Addison issued a red card to assistant coach Curtis Burkett for a second offence of unsportsmanlike conduct for temporarily leaving the bench, sending the score to 3-5. However, a video review showed Burkett standing for a brief moment after a point which is accordance to the rules.

Two points later, captain Joshua Persaud was issued a yellow card for an unsportsmanlike conduct for kicking away the ball to the ball receiver before a time-out. Persaud questioned his sanction and was then given a red card. TT were penalised another point to advance the score to 3-8 in favour of Curacao. Once again, video evidence showed Persaud’s pass was not unsportsmanlike.

Article 12. 1B of CAZOVA rule states, “Violation of the rules of the game must be claimed by the affected team during the development of the match in course and must be resolved during the match by the control committee.” The series of incidents were not reported by Curacao but by a member of the control committee, who is from Curacao.

The dissatisfied TT team tried to crawl their way back after being down 4-10 but it was too much and they were defeated 15-11.

TT almost squandered a seven-point lead at 20-13, in the first set, to eventually win 25-21. Marley Davidson’s all-round play including several aces proved crucial.

The Dutch team played an improved second set while, TT lapsed in confidence and communication causing them to lose the set (25:21) levelling the game 1-1.

The third set was the closest of the contest as TT battled from 23:19 down to win (26:24) for the 2-1 advantage. Unfortunately, the momentum of the game shifted in favour of the opponents as they battled throughout the fourth to win 25:20. Marley Davidson led TT scoring with 22 points (13 spikes, 7 aces). He was assisted by Josiah Constant and Georlani Austin who both scored 11 points apiece. Curacao’s Nigel Albertus was the game leading scorer with 25 points.

The TT Women’s U20 team were facing USVI at press time in the semi-final.