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Women start strong at CVC

Playing hosts in this year's Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (CVC) Championships, a fired-up women's national squad set out to make an early statement in their first match of the tournament Monday night.

The 'Rake & Scrape Girls' got past Haiti three sets to one, 25-10, 18-25, 25-11 and 25-15, and they hoped to keep momentum going, leading into what could have been their toughest match of the tournament against Trinidad & Tobago late last night. The result of that match was unavailable up to press time. "Seeing that we're the home team we wanted to come out and make a statement early," said match Most Valuable Player Kelsie Johnson. "We knew that the Trinidadian team was going to be in here to see how we play, so we just wanted to win this one strong," she added.

Johnson was a nightmare at the net for Haiti, both on offence and defence. She was the highest scorer of the match with 29 points - 21 of them by kills (spikes). She also recorded the most blocks with a total of 24, eight of which were not returned.

As a local sports reporter, Johnson is usually telling the story, but this time she's the main character. When asked how she felt now that the script has been flipped Johnson replied jokingly: "That's why I try to avoid interviews like this one, but on a serious note, I just wanted to play with a lot of energy, and I wanted to keep my teammates fired-up. I think I was able to do that, now we just have to tighten-up in a few areas for our next match against Trinidad."

The other Johnson, Katrina that is, was the second leading hitter and blocker for The Bahamas. She scored 11 points - eight from kills, with two blocks on defense. Katrina, the more powerful striker of the two Johnsons, pounded the Haitians early in the first set. Her powerful hitting and Kelsie's athleticism kept Haiti's front line off balanced for most of the night.

Veteran team captain Jackie Conyers, 40-plus, kept things together after Team Bahamas seemingly lost focus and allowed Haiti to win the second set, 25-18.

Her savvy play and calm demeanour were the perfect ingredients to mix with the energy of the Johnson girls. In what is expected to be her last hurrah with the women's national squad, Conyers is looking to end her volleyball playing career with a bang.

"I'm very happy with the way the girls played tonight," she said. "I did my job, and that was to hold the team together. Our toughest games are ahead of us, but I think the girls are ready - I know I am," Conyers said.

For the Haitian ladies, they weren't too disappointed with the loss. Their defense was solid, but Haiti lacked power hitters. Their top scorer was Mariola Saint-Fluer with 11 points, seven which were kills, and their second highest scorer was Ruth Michell Antoine with six points, all of which were kills. When asked about the play of the team, Haitian coach Wesley Duvalsaint said: "We have only had about two practices before entering this tournament, because we lacked finances. Our team was only put together less than two months ago, and we've only had two practices."

Duvalsaint added that, "the chemistry of the players is not so good right now. We're going to have a tough time in this tournament if we continue to play like this. Hopefully when we go back home we can address some of these issues."

It only took 12 minutes for the 'Rake & Scrape Girls' to win the first set 25-13 over Haiti. The Johnson and Johnson combination was just too much to handle, with Katrina making multiple kills, and Kelsie sending down the set-winning slam.

In the second set, Haiti jumped out early on Team Bahamas, catching them off guard. Maybe the Bahamian players got a little overconfident after winning the first set so convincingly. Whatever it was that caused Team Bahamas to lose focus, Team Haiti capitalised on it. They drew first blood in the second set, then took the lead over The Bahamas, 3-1. Three straight unforced errors caused local head coach Joe Smith to call a time-out, with Team Haiti now leading 8-5. Smith would call another time out with the score 14-8 in favour of the visitors, as he tried to settle his squad. Team Bahamas had a little scare when power hitter Katrina twisted her ankle while chasing a misplaced pass. An official time out had to be taken so that trainers could have a look at the player's injury.

Fortunately, Katrina was able to return and went to work right away. She blocked a shot, then followed that with a big spike through the Haitian defense wall. Katrina Johnson wasn't done yet, as she came up with two more power hits to help Team Bahamas pull within four points, 14-10. However, Haiti had other plans for Team Bahamas and played nearly flawless volleyball to close out the set.

Losing that game must have been a wake-up call for Team Bahamas as they came out firing on all cylinders. They allowed Haiti to score only 11 points in the third set, and put an exclamation mark on the night by closing out the fourth set 25-15 and sealing the match three sets to one.