Blackbirds’ women, Deacons’ men take volleyball titles

University of the West Indies Blackbirds, the 2019 bridesmaid, walked all the way down the aisle this time around and created history by capturing their maiden knockout trophy when the 2020 Goddard Enterprises Limited Barbados Volleyball Association Competition concluded last evening.

Played at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, UWI Blackbirds lost the opening set 25-23 but recovered brilliantly and served their way to the knockout championship in the next three stanzas 25-17, 25-20 and 25-22 against Deacons.   

The men of Deacons Volleyball Club had much better fortunes than the women as they celebrated their second consecutive title. They trounced Barbados Bearings Progressive in straight sets 25-20, 25-15, 28-26 to reclaim their title.

The victorious UWI blackbirds coached by Renier Grace dominated group D with an overall 15 points undefeated. Therefore it was no surprise they went on to lift the title.

During the post-match interview, veteran player Dania  Hamilton told Barbados TODAY UWI have worked hard mentally, physically and emotionally as a team and therefore it was no surprise they emerged as champions.

“In any volleyball game, there are five sets. We have been training hard as a team and we made a decision once we train there is no way we should be losing and if we lose then we don’t belong in this competition,” said Hamilton who is a former national player.

Despite not getting off to the type of start they desired in the three best of five sets showdown, UWI bounced back strongly. They served well and their main outside hitters led by Hamilton, Tenielle Chapman-Goodluck and Shakera ‘Smiley’ Hall did not hold back.

Afiya Taylor and Nikita Wickham also played well and noticeably kept the ball alive on several occasions. They provided good support along with libero Tisha Solis who made a few successful diving saves that kept her team going.

It was unfortunate to see Deacon’s women slump as badly as they did considering the blend of players they had led by former national player Julia Lewis. The veteran outside hitter struggled to get going when it mattered most, committing doubles that referee Kirk Hinds had no choice but to call.

That forced coach Andrew Culpepper to replace Lewis at the start of the third set with the game locked 1-1. Coming on the court in place of Lewis was Fabia Greaves who has become a constant for Deacons in the middle as she has the ability to hit and also block thanks to her height.

As the third set continued with lots of unforced errors from Deacons, UWI cruised to a 20-13 lead but Deacons suddenly found some momentum. They managed to cut the deficit by three (17-20) but failed to respond in the frontcourt and once again fell away. UWI were back in the driver’s seat and subsequently, they took a 2-1 lead.

Going into the fourth stanza, it meant a win for UWI would give them the trophy to take back to their UWI Cave Hill-based institution. Victory for Deacons would allow them a chance to stay in the contest.

So competitive was the fourth set that both teams put up a fight as the scores were tied 22-22 and Blackbirds eventually grabbed the lead 24-22 and secured a well-deserved championship win.

The Deacons men’s team made it look all too easy against Progressive. In fact, it was a foregone conclusion that Deacons would celebrate as kings of the knockout because through this entire competition they have not dropped a set. They stamped their authority at the top of Zone A during the playoffs.

Deacons captain and senior national player Akeel Oxley who will depart for Missouri University in January 2021 said the game plan was to go hard from ball one, stay focused throughout the match and finish strong.

“Once we maintained our focus we could have gotten it done and we did. Coming into this game we wanted to win three straight and we didn’t drop any set for the whole tournament so far. It was a goal from ball one, from the first game,” Oxley said.

Deacons stamped their authority 25-20 in the opening set as Progressive struggled to really get going with a lot of balls going out of bounds. So strong was Deacons’ attack led by 19-year-old Akeel Oxley that by the second technical timeout they were up 16-9 in the third set.

So confident were Deacons that coach Elwyn Oxley brought on two of his young inexperienced charges Christopher Best and Sean Chase just before they closed out the set 25-15 and comfortably earned a 2-0 advantage.

During the third set Progressive were down 9-13 but they managed to come from behind and cut the deficit by one 12-13 as the Deacons side called timeout.

The scores ended up being locked 18-18 and Deacons unable to make the return allowed Progressive to take a slim one-point advantage (19-18) and threatened to force a fourth set.

After being locked 18-18, 19-19, 20-20, Progressive took the lead 22-20 but Deacons’ outside hitter Ahkeem Mayers responded with one down the middle. The Oxley cousins Akeel and Ashe along with Akeil Williams were all incredible on the attack for the men in green.

The scores were tied 26-26 and Deacons, clearly a tier above all the other teams, won the next two points when Jerome Stuart executed a bad serve for Progressive that failed to make it over the net and then Akeel Oxley with an ace finished it off in style for Deacons. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb