By Morissa Lindsay
Burger King Clapham Toners staved off keen competition this season and have ascended to the throne as the newly crowned queens of the Goddard Enterprises Limited Barbados Volleyball Association Division One League Competition.
After moving top of the standings during their last few league games played at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, Toners needed to win their final match of the season convincingly and they did not disappoint with a commanding 3-1 win against Club United last night.
Coached by Cedric Proverbs and captained by Ashley Marshall, Toner’s came from behind and won 23-25, 25-13, 25-14 and 25-15 against Club United. That cemented victory for Toners scoring 51 points from 14 matches comprising 11 wins and three losses. In so doing they dethroned former champions University of the West Indies Blackbirds who relinquished their title by a mere point (50) and came second overall while Deacons tallied 46 and finished in third place.
During a post-match interview, Marshall who led by example playing the outside position, said Toners backed by their dedicated supporters in the Gymnasium, have a system by which they operate and therefore their investments paid off.
“Our hardwork has paid off. All of us here even though we are young, we are working and we wouldn’t call it sacrifices but rather investment into our team and our investments paid off. We have a system and we were able to lean on the system especially coming to the end of the league where we are getting a little more fatigue, but in the end, we did the job,” Marshall told Barbados TODAY.
She also paid homage to veteran players Shennel Pooler and Janelle Chase-Mayers who are likely to retire as reigning champions. “We always want to put a young team out there and look to the future of Barbados’ volleyball. The more seasoned veterans were able to come and help us where we needed help especially in areas where we were lacking.
“A lot of our players go out overseas to play at college, so then we have some gaps but I think it is really good that we were able to play with them and they were able to set the tone in terms of what is expected of you when you play at Toners volleyball and I think it was really good to have that leadership,” Marshall said.
Last night’s match against Club United was not the type of start Toners had hoped for having lost the opening set but they did well to come from behind convincingly and won the next three sets in the three best of five showdown in order to capture the Division One title.
With the match locked at 1-1, Toners ensured that they got off to a good start in the third set with a commanding 16-5 lead at the second technical timeout. After allowing Toners to score 13 straight points, Club United finally broke at 18-6 and tried to bring themselves back into the set as they registered three straight points off the serve of Nicole Puckerin.
But that did not stop Toners who quickly broke in one and found their rhythm and of course the two Ashleys, Marshall and Jordan, made good use of their licence to spike. Club United picked up points occasionally but they just could not stop Toners from taking a 2-1 lead. A number of failed returns did not help Club United’s situation
either.
The fourth set was a lot more competitive and with the scores tied 10-10 and Club United being first to break compliments an ace serve by Raquel Raizman-Mendez, Toners did not allow their opponents to get too comfortable and rather ensured they were in the driver’s seat 16-12 thanks to a good collective showing. The supportive teammates of Pooler, Chase- Mayers, Shamandra Shillingford, Danielle Brathwaite and Akeliah Phillips to name a few, played their part.
Club United, while they did well to dig out those tremendous spikes by Ashley Jordan, Toner’s leading spiker, they failed to defend strongly at the nets when it mattered most. Toners went on to win the fourth set 25-15 and secured a comfortable 3-1 victory to be league champions.
There were three other women’s games played and UWI won in straight sets 25-11, 25-22 and 29-27 against Pan American Insurance Warrens but it was not enough to surpass Toners. Deacons also claimed victory in straight sets 25-15, 25-14 and 25-20 against Development Volleyball (DVM) in Motion to end their season on a winning note.
Chargers who ended the league in fourth position on 40 points defeated Phoenix Security Carlton 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 18-25 and 25-19) as Carlton ended in fifth place on a total of 37 overall. DVM on a total of 24 points were in sixth position, Club United finished seventh on 21 points and in eight place on 11 were Warrens. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
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