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Achievers, Strikers to clash in final
By Rawle Welch
West Demerara –based Young Achievers and city side Castrol Strikers roared into the final of the Tradewind Tankers ‘‘True Champions’ Volleyball Tournament after dispatching both Rollers and Port Mourant Training School of Berbice in semi-final action which concluded Saturday evening, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Christopher Ramsundar (left) delivers a powerful spike past the outstretched hands of Rollers’ Seon Wilson last Saturday.
The tournament which eventually got underway after administrative bungling forced the Organisers to postpone the semi-finals from its original date, produced a high level of play that surely augers well for the sport’s future.
With the rules of the tournament allowing sides to choose which format they preferred, Young Achievers opted to play their initial engagement against the experienced Rollers using the 4’s format that allows four players to be on the court for each side.
Usually a well drilled unit, the West Demerara side got off to a rollicking start and raced to an 8-3 advantage with Randy Adams, Christopher Ramsundar and company, all over their opponents and easily wrapped up the first set 21-8.
The second stanza seemed to follow the same script as the bespectacled Ramsundar produced a series of unanswered spikes, while setter Khemraj Singh, returning to the team after a brief hiatus, Adams and Cleveland Peters complemented the aggressive player.
Rollers showed the occasional spark, but were never able to mount a serious challenge against the younger, fitter Achievers and meekly crashed to a 21-13 defeat.
The next game was between Castrol Strikers and Port Mourant in the 2’s format and what a match it turned out to be as both sides traded leads the entire game.
Strikers choice of players were the experienced duo Adolph Davis and Desta Hoppie, while Port Mourant went for the vastly improved youngsters Jared Jhingree and six-foot plus Quacy Matheson and they showed a level of maturity that belied their age.
They stood toe-to-toe with Davis and Hoppie, trading spikes and digs and even enjoyed a three-point lead (91-16) at one stage, before their opponents noticed some nerves and creped back into the contest.
The game was on a knife’s edge as Jhingree and Matheson had match point at 29-28, Strikers marched back to level the contest, despite looking physically exhausted.
Hoppie played a master stroke through some gamesmanship by making a few queries from the standing official which seemed more a case of using his vast experience to recover physically.
In the end it worked as the delay seemed to affect the younger Port Mourant pair and even though Matheson had an easy set to ‘kill’ his spike landed way beyond the baseline, handing victory to Strikers 30-29.
Next up was the clash between Rollers and Achievers in the 6’s format and even though the former showed much improvement and determination the result was never in doubt as the reigning national champions coasted to a 25-15, 25-22, 27-25 win.
In the final game of the night, Strikers erased any hope that Port Mourant presumably harboured of meeting the final with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-23 straight sets triumph.
Strikers win was due to the combined efforts of Ian Wills, Hoppie, Davis and Kerwyn Richards, while former national player Seon Glasgow, Matheson and Jhingree tried their level best to stay competitive.
The date for the final and third place playoff will be announced shortly.
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