Chargers buzzing

The battle of the unbeaten teams saw league kings Chargers moving to 4-0 while the Juniors tasted defeat for the first time when the Goddard Enterprises Limited Senior Volleyball Knockouts continued on Monday night at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex.
Key man Jabarry Goodridge seemingly packed the Juniors’ winning formula when he left the island on Sunday for a volleyball scholarship in the United States as they lost to Chargers in straight sets 16-25, 17-25, 21-25. 
The Juniors have, however, qualified for the semi-finals with a 4-1 record.
Previously, the Juniors had looked like championship material romping to wins over Progressive, Foundation, Cawmere and Sandy Crest Medical Centre Deacons.
The subpar play on Monday night was exploited by Chargers with Jamaican Mark Lewis and former Barbados player Nicholas Matthias reminding the Juniors of their lack of experience.
Surprisingly, coach John Stuart opted to play the first two sets with Akeel Mayers, leaving starting setter Kemar Hinds on the bench. 
Horrible attacking and equally dismal blocking from the Juniors did little to stop Chargers who will be looking to end the preliminaries with a win over Deacons next Monday.
With one loss, the Juniors are guaranteed playing in the clash between the second or third-placed teams. Unfortunately, the loss of Goodridge has lowered their rating where they will place either second or third, but will, in reality, be more suited to be ranked at four. The first-placed team, most likely to be Chargers, will not enjoy the shot at the weakest qualifier in the semis.
It will take a miracle for the two bottom-placed teams, Cawmere and Foundation United, to get a look in at the semis but at least they created a domestic record when they met on Monday night, of finishing a set 36-34. 
After taking that marathon first set, Foundation grabbed the second with Jamar Ward, Dave Seales and Kevin Harding playing great attack.
Some puzzling tactics by Foundation coach Troy Ferdinand played into the hands of the smoking Shawn Simpson and Raffael Lovell, who were well supported by the steady Cedric Proverbs.
With just six players, Cawmere took their first win of the season 34-36, 15-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-12.
There was no such drama in the women’s competition with league queens Warrens pushing to 4-0, while dropping RBC Carlton to 0-4 with a 25-11, 25-23, 25-17 victory.
Once again, Carlton struggled to make consistent plays in any facet of the game, but the high-leaping Rhe-Ann Niles found no such difficulty as she spiked and blocked regally to dismiss the Carlton team.
Defending champions, Brydens Rockets beat Toners 26-24, 25-22, 25-21 after welcoming back setter Andrea Flores. The Venezuelan had spent the first part of the season sitting in the stands as she had indicated plans to turn out for the UWI team in 2014.