The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunedmedia.net

It took a marathon three sets for the Scotiabank Defenders to successfully defend their men’s title as the fifth annual ‘Defend Ya Spike’ international volleyball tournament came to a close at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Sunday night.

The Defenders pulled off a 26-24, 25-19 and 31-29 decision over the Rebels, formerly the University of the West Indies, as Jamaica’s Dennis ‘DJ’ Nelson was named the most valuable player. It is the fourth consecutive year that the Defenders have secured the title.

They join the Auto Mall Boomers, a first year team put together by coaches Shedrack Forbes and Ricardo Demeritte Jr, who won the ladies’ title as they swept the Rebels 25-18, 25-16 and 25-18 behind the MVP performance from Malina Tarrell of the US.

Tournament director DeVince Smith said the three-day tournament that attracted a total of six ladies and five men lived up to its advanced billing.

“It was a successful event and we got a lot of positive feedback from the players, both locally and internationally and fans,” Smith said. “Everybody is geared up and excited about what will happen when we host the event again in 2016. It’s just my hope to get an early start in securing sponsorship because we got started late daily due to transportation issues. Once we can secure that, everything will run much smoother.”

As a result of getting off to a late start on Sunday, the men’s game was not completed until after 11pm. But Smith said he was pleased to see that the interest was there and the fans stayed around to watch all of the thrills and spills in what turned out to be the most keenly contested championship since the inception of the tournament.

Smith said their Scotiabank Defenders Club wanted to make sure that all of the players, especially those who came out from the Caribbean and the United States, enjoyed themselves and for the most part, he felt they accomplished that goal and that should entice even more players to visit the Bahamas next year to compete in the tournament.

“The competition was great, especially in the semi-finals,” Smith said. “The top four teams in both divisions provided the excitement that was needed. Both the third place games went to a third set with the two winners pulling it off 15-12 in the third and deciding sets, which means it could have been anybody’s game.

“In the men’s final, we had a marathon third set, so the tournament went down the wire as the Defenders came back after trailing in both the first and third sets, winning in deuce. They won the second set rather comfortably. So the fans really got their money’s worth.”

The Defenders, coached by Tony Simon, featured Bahamian professional players Byron Ferguson and libero Jamaal Ferguson.

As for the ladies’ division, Smith commended Forbes and Demeritte in compiling an impressive team of players in the Boomers, who played together for the first time, but went through the tournament undefeated. The defending champions International Jammers got eliminated in the playoffs by the Rebels.

None of the Bahamian teams made it out of the playoffs.

In addition to the two championship winners, the tournament also selected its All-Tournament team, based on the individual performances from the players. Selected were the following:

WOMEN

Janisha Johnson (Auto Mall Boomers), Kelly Anne Billing (Rebels), Aysha Nickles (Auto Mall Boomers), Arielle Wilson (Auto Mall Boomers) and Georgette Malina Tarrell (Auto Mall Boomers).

MEN

Byron Ferguson (Scotiabank Defenders), Patrico Grant (Caribbean All Stars), Alain London (Scotiabank Defenders), Shonari Hepburn (Defenders B), Ryck Webb (Scotiabank Defenders ) and Nicholas Prescott (Rebels).?