Pan American Life Insurance Warrens Sports Club served Phoenix Security Services Carlton Club their third straight loss when the Goddard Enterprises Limited Senior Knockout continued last night at the Wildey, St Michael Gymnasium.
Carlton have so far contested three games and failed to register a single win, which is the opposite situation to Warrens who will be looking to add the knockout title to their heavily laden trophy cabinet.
So far, the victorious Warrens side who are the reigning premier league champions and coached by Mark Lewis, have played three games and won against Club United, Chargers and Carlton who were down two early sets 25-20, 25-17 before responding 25-21 in the penultimate stanza last night. But Warrens went on to regain their momentum and capture the fourth set 26-24.
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Kenisha Marshall (right) of Chargers scoring another point as they won against Toners.[/caption]
Several unforced errors resulted in Carlton losing the opening set and trailed for most of the second when they came up against a lethal Warrens attack. Led by former senior national captain Anthazia Mason, Warrens were relentless with their attacking approach, as Anicia Wood along with Rhe-Ann Niles, Talya Layne, and Xhane Greenidge slammed any hittable serve delivered by former Barbados setter Sophia Walcott.
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Warrens spiker Anicia Wood with a shot past Carlton’s defence. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay).[/caption]
In the second set Warrens were up 11-8 when Carlton coach Michael Brathwaite decided to call timeout. But those talks didn't make a difference because Warrens ensured they held serve to extend their lead 16-8 compliments of Wood with some lovely overhand floaters while Mason, Layne, and Niles in the frontcourt took care of business mostly from the midcourt smashing at anything worth going after.
Carlton lost the second set by eight points but what was interesting to note was the fact that at 10-21 they were able to score seven straight points off those beautiful overhand serves by Nerissa Dyer to carry her team on to 17-21, but Warrens found the three points needed to capture a 2-0 lead.
Carlton got off to a good start in the penultimate set as they led 8-6 during the first mandatory break. They began to look a bit more confident, and Warrens were the ones who looked out of sorts scrambling to keep the ball alive during play and showed a bit of frustration when they accosted the officials about calls made during the game.
Carlton up 23-19 forced Warrens' coach Mark Lewis to make a substitution by bringing off Sophia Walcott for Niles. From there Warrens began to score and were able to cut the deficit by three, 21-24. But Carlton managed to secure the vital points to close out the set and prolonged the game.
Warrens looked business-like in the fourth set as they led 2-1 and appeared hungry to finish the game. They were ahead 21-15 when Carlton re-enacted their second set performance by scoring seven straight points to come from behind and take the lead 22-21. The game was truly pulsating at this stage as the scores were tied 24-24, and the teams refused to let up. But Warrens, an experienced side, went on to score the next two points for the victory.
Chargers scored a convincing 25-23, 25-16 and 25-20 when they met Burger King Clapham Toners in the first of two fixtures.
Defending champions University of the West Indies Blackbirds did not play yesterday but are yet to register a win having lost two games to Chargers and Deacons. This coming Sunday UWI will play Toners with the hope of getting their title defence off to a winning start.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
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