Jamaican women take third place

BRIDGETOWN (CMC):

Martinique created history when they ended the long Barbados reign as men's title-holders at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships (CVC) with a five-set victory in the final on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Jamaica women beat the Netherlands Antilles 25-20, 12-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-10 to take third place, and in the men's match for the same position, T&T beat Jamaica 25-13, 20-25, 29-31, 25-16, 16-14.

The men from the French-speaking island did the unthinkable, coming from two sets down against the 10-time champions and hosts, to win their first regional crown, 24-26, 17-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-11.

It was a frustrating night for the home crowd, as they were also denied the women's crown by defending champions Trinidad and Tobago after taking the first set.

In a rematch of the previous two regional finals, the girls from the two-island republic turned back the home side 22-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-17.

Meanwhile, the stunned Barbadian men were left wondering how they fell to an embarrassing loss after what seemed to be an inevitable victory.

The team had never been really tested throughout the entire tournament and faltered against a Martinique side that showed no negative effects from two gruelling encounters against Trinidad & Tobago.

The home side had made one line-up change, starting with crowd favourite and outside hitter Shawn Simpson in place of the Renier Grace. They started on a tear, with Fabian Cox playing like a man possessed. His block on Martinique captain Dominique Daquin sepa-rated the teams in the first set which Martinique kept close on the strength of their defence.