It was trice as nice for Queen’s College girls who have won their third consecutive Massy Stores-sponsored National Sports Council’s Volleyball under-19 double crown championship.
Queen’s College girls are the Under-19 champions once again. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay)
The Barbados Community College came alive this afternoon when favorites Queen’s College trounced Christ Church Foundation girls in straight sets 25-22, 25-22 and 25-21 to continue their unbeaten run.
Queen’s College’s victorious coach Andrew Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY even though they only managed to train three times in the entire competition, it was the team discipline that allowed Queen’s College to be so successful on court.
“The girls fall in love with the sport and whatever I ask them to do they do. So once they maintain the discipline then we don’t have any issues. What we try to do is have girls playing volleyball at every form level so that we can work on the continuity. For example the last three years we were able to feed in players even though one or two players have left school. We entered two teams this year and our B team will return next year so they are preparing to win next year as well,” Brathwaite said.
In the first set the scores were 20-16 when Chanta Moore and Selina Hollingsworth of Foundation with a good block at the nets, followed by a shot from the hard hitting Aaliyah Durant and net interference by QC, assisted the Christ Church girls to stay alive. But only for a short time because Queen’s College composed themselves and came back into the game thanks to a poor serve from Tesscline Moore of Foundation. From there on the defending champions progressed to 24 and they went on to take the set by a three-point margin even though they had Alleyne giving it her all on the outside.
The score line ended in similar fashion also in the second set. Again Queen’s College kept the advantage 16-14 at the second technical time out. The girls from Husbands St James had a top squad of national players who were experienced enough to be patient with some lovely set pieces and pounced on every opportunity to spike at the nets, especially the trio of captain Janine Mayers, Cairo Blenman and Kayla James. That didn’t stop Foundation from digging deep and they did well to lock the scores at 17-17 and then lead 19-17 when Mayers hit outside the line and Dominique Best was blocked by Foundation defenders Moore and Hollingsworth.
Cario Blenman of Queen’s College takes on Christ Church Foundation’s defence and won the battle.
At 19-18 Brathwaite called time-out for Queen’s College but Durant continued where she left off for Foundation. The competitiveness of the game was soon in display as Queen’s College took the lead at 21-20. A few errors by Foundation in the latter stages of the game cost them to lose the second set by a three-point margin once more and gave their opponents a 2-0 lead. As expected Queen’s College went for the kill with increased intensity and ensured they won the third set and reclaimed the trophy once more.