Davis heartened by Ja effort

Despite going down three sets to one (18-25, 17-25, 25-19 and 17-25) to Barbados in their third game of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Youth Tournament at the GC Foster College yesterday, Jamaica under-19 men's team coach Steve Davis said he is proud of the progress of the inexperienced team.

Jamaica went down three sets to nil to Suriname in their opening game, before bouncing back to a 3-1 sets win over US Virgin Islands on Tuesday.

"I am not going to call it a poor performance," Davis told STAR Sports. "It's just that we have a set of players who are young to the sport and young in age too. They are doing the best that they can, but sometimes the situation gets the better of them. With young teams that is what will happen: up and down, up and down, but they are getting better as the games progress."

"In fact, I am proud of them based on where they are coming from to where they are now. These kids are coming out of systems and schools where they are used to playing a particular way," he added.

Despite the loss, Davis pointed to the positives from the game that he is looking to build on as he is hopeful that his charges will continue to develop.

"There are positives to take from the game. Today we started a new middle, that's Clive Walters who performed way above expectations and was just magnificent. We kept switching and changing until we found the right formula. The side we had out there today wasn't bad. We just now have to look at how we get them more cohesive and conscious in the game," Davis said.

The under-18 girl's team failed to advance the semi-finals after suffering their second straight defeat of the tournament on Wednesday, going down three sets to nil (27-25, 25-10 and 25-7) to Suriname.

Davis guided Jamaica to the title in 2015.