The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas looks to continue its takeover of the the US Virgin Islands on the volleyball court as the women’s national team attempts to follow the men’s success.

The senior national women’s team arrived in USVI Monday for the 14th Annual Caribbean Volleyball Championships. They are scheduled to open play with the feature match against host country USVI 9pm tonight.

Making histoty, the men’s national volleyball team not only beat regional powerhouse Barbados for the first time, but they also dethroned Trinidad & Tobago to win their first ever CVC title over the weekend

Devince Smith, the assistant coach of the team who led the men to their gold medal, said the team has used the success of their male counterparts as a catalyst.

“They are in high spirits. They have turned up the intensity at practices over the past few days and look forward to the competition. The men’s team has set a very high standard, however the females remain optimistic and are not being pressured but instead they remain focused on coming to play one game at a time,” he said.

“Trinidad and Tobago is the favourite team to win and most of their players have gained additional exposure from playing in professional leagues. Nonetheless, every team has their weaknesses so as one of the smaller teams, our ladies are going to run a quick offense and, in order to be competitive, we have to step up the level of defence both at the net and backcourt.”

Several players from the men’s squad returned home after their competition came to a close. However, many team members remained in the USVI to support the women’s squad.

Women’s head coach Joe Smith said he is looking forward to the women performing exceptionally well this week.

“I didn’t put much pressure on them because I know the men’s team is much more poised than them,” Smith stated. “I think they could medal. I think they should medal. If the medal comes fine. But we need to stay focused and play for it. They have the talent to do it.”

“We already have an invitation to attend the World Championships qualifying,” Smith said. “The women go to Suriname in the first week in September and the men go to Curacao the last week in September. So winning CVC can cause us to opt out of the first round and go directly to the second round. It gets us that closer to getting to the World Championships.”

Both coaches added that the teams are still going through their rebuilding stages, but their performances will show exactly how far they are.