The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

EVERY year, more and more international players flock to the Bahamas to compete in the Scotiabank Defenders Defend Ya Spike volleyball tournament.

This year, coaches Shedrack Forbes and Ricardo Demeritte Jr took it to another level when they assembled a group of players from throughout the United States, who never played together. Under the banner of the Auto Mall, the Boomers came to town and dominated the competition, not losing a set as they cinched the ladies’ championship title at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium last night.

The three-day round robin tournament came to a close with the men’s championship game between the three-time defending champions Scotiabank Defenders and the Rebels, formerly the University of the West Indies. However, no score was available up to press time.

In the best-of-five championship game for the ladies, the Boomers held off the Rebels for a hard fought 25-18, 25-16 and 25-18 decision. It seemed as if putting the team together was more of a challenge for Forbes than it was keeping them focused on the goal at hand.

“I had one player from my previous team who invited some of her friends from overseas and they were more than happy to come to the Bahamas and experience what volleyball is like in our country,” Forbes said. “When you have a group of players who have never played together before, we relied on their talent to pull it off.”

But with the instant success that they achieved in their first year, Forbes said it will be interesting to see if he can entice them all to return next year.

“With the way the calibre of volleyball is going in the country, I will definitely have them back next year,” Forbes said. “I can definitely say that from the time the first tournament was held to now, the level of play has improved and I could see more international teams and players coming and I can see it getting to a semi-pro league. This year was definitely good. Unfortunately we had a couple of teams that pulled out, especially in the women. But overall, the teams here did a great job, especially the team from UWI. They made the finals, but we pulled it out in the end.”

While the Boomers completed the round robin with an impressive 12-0 record and swept the fourth place Panthers (5-7) 25-14, 25-13 to advance to the final, the Rebels, who ended up second at 10-2, upset the defending champions International Jammers from the United States (third at 8-4) in three tough sets 25-17, 19-25 and 15-12 to secure their berth into the final.

Power hitter Janisa Johnson, who hails from Los Angeles, said the Boomers had a point to prove and they did it by demonstrating that nothing beats talent.

“This is my first time playing with these ladies and it was my first time travelling internationally, so it was my first time being here and it was just awesome,” said Johnson, who put on a spectacular show throughout the tournament. “The tournament was really nice. It was good to see how everything was put together here. Our team was great. It felt like we were all playing together for a while, so we hope that we can come back and do it again next year.”

On the men’s side, the Defenders would dominate as well, posting a 9-1 record in the round robin. They went on to knock off the fourth place (4-6) International Jammers in two straight sets in their semi-final matchup. The second place Rebels (7-3) prevailed down the stretch over the third place (6-4) Caribbean All-Stars to complete the championship picture.

Tournament director DeVince Smith said this year was another success for the organising committee.

“We had a lot more professional and international players that brought more flavour to this tournament,” he said. “If we can continue the trend of bringing in these international players, it would propel the sport of volleyball even further. We had a lot of people who came out and saw the sport and they have expressed an interest in coming out and supporting the local league. So I’m pleased with the success of the tournament, I’m pleased with the level of play and I’m pleased with the fan support. It’s just a fantastic week of volleyball.”

The other teams in the tournament were the Block City (2-10) and Hornets (0-12) on the ladies’ side and the Saints (0-10) on the men’s side.