The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

In their first title defence as Caribbean champions, the Bahamas men’s national volleyball team lived up to their billing as the top team in the tournament.

The team won their opening match in five sets over Curacao: 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21 and 16-14 at the 15th Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Championship (CAZOVA) hosted in Trinidad and Tobago.

Today, both the men’s and women’s teams will hit the court against Jamaica at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo. The women are slated to play at 4pm while the men will follow at 6pm. Tomorrow, the women are scheduled to play their second game in a back-to-back against Barbados at 6pm.

The British Virgin Islands and Haiti have both pulled out, leaving the field down to six men and six women teams, which should work in favour of the women who have to finish among the top two teams to qualify for the 2015 NORCECA Championship.

The men, as defending champions, automatically qualified for the NORCECA championships. The men have also qualified for the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, November 15-30, the first Bahamian team to qualify for the event in decades.

The men’s team, coached by Joseph Smith, will be assisted by DeVince Smith and Lloyd Davis. The team includes Prince Wilson, Renaldo Knowles, Tony Simon, Dereck Rahming, Shonari Hepburn, Shedrack Forbes, JeVaughn Saunders, Gaege Smith, Chanchey Cooper, Byron Ferguson, Jamaal Ferguson and Jon Isaacs.

“Preparations for this competition was a bit challenging in terms of facilities, but luckily we had the opportunity to play the World Championship qualifiers in May where we were able to play at a higher level,” DeVince Smith said to NORCECA. “This was very good preparation for us and the team is mostly comprised of the core of the winning team from two years ago in St Croix, US Virgin Islands along with a few younger players.”

As for the women’s team, Smith said it’s a young one with some new faces. Smith revealed that only five players in Melinda Bastian, an outside hitter, Krystel Brown, a middle blocker, Tia Charlow, utility player, Laval Sands, the libero and Michelle Thompson, another middle blocker, are back from the previous national team.

They will be joined by Brown’s sister, Cheryse Bain, an outside hitter, Britany Deveaux, a middle blocker, Janae Saunders, a setter, Britney Bonamy, utility player, Whitney Armbrister, a setter and opposite player, Jannelle Curtiss, an opposite player and Avoni Seymour, an outside hitter.

Smith will be assisted by Margaret Albury and Shantia McPhee.

“This is a young team with an age average around 21-22 years old,” Smith said.

“So that’s looking respective. It’s telling us that we are on the right track where NORCECA want us to be. They want us to go young. In terms of playing, we had some of them on the team the last time for the exposure, so hopefully they will not be afraid of being put in the fire this time. But it’s a defensive team because we are a short team.”