Friday, March 29, 2024

Deacons thrashed

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Forget the inclusion of  two professionals in Anicia Wood and Shari Mathews as well as the imposing Rhe-Ann Niles.
Double-crown volleyball queens Flow Sentry Brokers Insurance Deacons still made a poor start to the VolleyBarbados Championships which served off at the Wildey Gymnasium on Sunday night.
Deacons were thrashed in straight sets 25-14, 25-15, 25-21 by Brandon University Bobcats after defending champions Montreal University Carabins were stunned 25-21, 25-19, 25-20 by Calgary University Dinos.
Sadly, a good crowd turned out to have their Yuletide season dampened by the poor performance of the Deacons unit which seemed to have interrupted their Christmas break as well as feast to be utterly outplayed by the visitors.  Coach Andrew Culpepper tried rotating his players to no avail.
“I am very disappointed,” the coach said about his team’s performance.  “The girls played with little heart and fight and not playing together as a team led to poor passing where the opponents were rattling off five points at a time.  With their height and blocking ability we got hurt by our poor passing and having to set the slower high balls on the wings.
“Getting the girls to gel as a team is key as all of them have played at a higher level on the national team and I know they are capable of playing 100 per cent better than what they played.
Our serving was not up to scratch and the girls played as individuals with only motivation coming from the sidelines.
“Although with the structure of the tournament we can lose both first-round games and still advance and win the championship, we are aware that the fans are coming out to support us and we need to lift our game and play the kind of volleyball that our fans expect.
 “From here on we will be running with the players who are ready to run and if we go down we will be going down fighting with the best team on court,” the long-time coach concluded.
While the Bobcats’ setter Kellie Baker unleashed Meaghan Robertson, Vaovai Aiona and Alexis Loewen who peppered Deacons’ court, starting setter Taymar Maynard and then Sharleen Browne could not find any consistent counter from Deacons.
In the absence of an unwell league MVP Fabia Greaves, knockout MVP Julia Lewis played her dithering game normally reserved for when she is wearing blue and gold. 
Six-footers Niles and Wood were not convincing in attack while Culpepper was forced to sub Matthews in the second and third sets after she was repeatedly rejected by the Bobcats.
The craft of the Canadian setters, as well as the speed and height of the attackers, proved worrying for Deacons. Poor passing and predictable setting by Deacons also saw the visitors being able to read and neutralize Deacons’ attacks.
Deacons struggled from early in every set as the Bobcats exploited horrible reception where a midcourt passing hole handed the visitors ace after ace.  After Matthews was subbed at 3-11 in the third set, Wood used her spiked serve to give the spectators some hope of a fight to pull Deacons back to 11-13.
However, successive service errors by Wood and Niles, followed by an ace from the Bobcats, handed the advantage back to the Canadians. Matthews returned to find some spiking range but Deacons could only rally as far as 21 before Niles was blocked and the ball meekly dropped uncontested on the court to end the match.
Last night Deacons would have played their final Group B match against Bois-de-Boulogne University while the Carabins would have been hoping to find some form against the British Columbia University in their final Group A game.
This morning the final preliminary games will be played at the Gym with Bois-de-Boulogne meeting the Bobcats and British Columbia clashing with the Dinos.

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