Compliments of the Nation News

Winning a set against the Barbados teams at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships is proving as difficult as getting a no-confidence motion passed against the Government.

The Barbadian lasses survived a minor scare before romping to their third straight-sets victory at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium on Tuesday night with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-13 triumph over Jamaica.

It was also a cake-walk for the men as they streamrolled minnows Guadeloupe 25-9, 25-18, 25-20 in a game which coach Ludger Niles gave all 12 of his players some court time.

The five times queens, fresh from three-sets wins over Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago, started poorly and trailed 1-7 against the Reggae girls, who were still on a high after their straight sets over Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday.

Julia Lewis served out, lanky middle player Anicia Wood spiked out and was then blocked by Tracyann Pryce while Shari Matthews also spiked out of bounds.

Nothing seemed to be going right as captain Anthazia Yearwood found the powerful serve of Cherine Richards too hot to handle in back court.

But once coach Paul Payne called a time out, the local girls quickly got back on track, trimming a 9-2 deficit to 9-10 as the impressive Matthews, Lewis and Sharon Bovell all got into the act.

Lewis, a former national athlete, concentrated on placement with her spikes while Bovell played sensibly, mixing some deft dinks with stunning spikes and the 18-year-old Matthews, who ended with a game-high 18 kills, was lethal with her spikes from all over the court.

On the other side, the Cuban-born Marjorie Quesada kept Jamaica in the hunt with some crushing spikes.

The scores were locked at 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20 but then Wood and Bovell buried spikes before Matthews finished off the set with an unstoppable hit through the Jamaican middle blockers.

The second set was very keenly contested with Matthews and Bovell leading the way for Barbados and Quesada charging for Jamaica, who took a three-point lead at 15-12.

But then Lewis came to life off the left wing with some thunderous spikes and from a 19-19 tie, Barbados won three straight points, forcing Jamaica to bring on reserve setter Kamille Dwyer for Simone Forbes.

Dwyer was kept on for the third set but Jamaica’s coach Othneil Findlay seemed to throw in the white towel when he kept the hard-hitting Quesada, who had 10 kills in the first two sets, on the sideline.

This set was one-sided as Barbados, after bringing on Jannette Brown for Wood, rushed to a commanding 18-8 lead.

Coach Paul Payne even had the luxury of giving reserve setter Renee Clarke and Annette Chapman some playing time.

Yearwood and Bovell finished with 11 and 10 successful attacks respectively, while Lewis weighed in with seven and libero Angelina Smith did a commendable job in back court with 10 digs.

It was then the turn of the eight times Caribbean kings, who had opened their campaign with a comfortable win against The Bahamas on Sunday night.

After a few service errors which allowed Guadeloupe to have the satisfaction of sharing a 5-5 scoreline, Barbados scored eight unanswered points.

Outside hitter Fabian Cox was hot and cold with his spiking but stirred up the 2 500 crowd when one of thunderbolts floored Guadeloupe’s libero Charly Antoine.

The second set was not as one-sided as Guadeloupe’s lanky No.2 outside attacker Xavier Galipo, who had eight kills in the match, was able to spike over the Barbadian blocks.

He got some help from the tallEric Mondongue, whose unorthodox “push spikes” in the middle, were difficult to block.

The biggest cheer of the night came when captain Elwyn Oxley was rested and left-hander Shawn Simpson was introduced for his first taste of senior Caribbean volleyball action.

Foundation’s 16-year-old setter Alain London also came on with Barbados leading 21-13 but was whistled for a second-ball attack to a high pass at the net and then blown for a lift.

The coach reintroduced his front-line setter Dale Addison for the start of the third set but wisely rotated his players so that Daran Gill and Adrian Price also got on court, alongside Simpson and Gregory Burke.

Cox, who was the only starter on court in the final exchanges, ended with 14 kills, most of which were uncontested as the Guadeloupe blockers shied away from the net.

Grace had nine while Oxley, Jason Griffith and Addison all got a handful of kills.

Compliments of the Nation News

Sporting islands

BARBADOS