The first and second seed teams were upstaged over the weekend at the Eastern Caribbean Senior Women’s Volleyball Tournament which took place in Saint Lucia.

In the quarter finals, top seed and defending champions Saint Lucia suffered a shocking defeat to eventual winners St. Kitts and Nevis 3-2 while second seed Antigua and Barbuda, who trampled St. Kitts and Nevis in the preliminary round, fell to Dominica 3-0.

Florian Combie, coach of the dethroned tournament favourites Saint Lucia hinted that complacency was a factor in his team’s demise: “We have to get used to the idea sometimes that even if you might be the better team, there is always the possibility of loosing when a team will somehow just raise their game to unexpected levels. That happened in our game. St. Kitts and Nevis played very good defense and we were not able to respond.”

Champions St. Kitts and Nevis endured hard fought ladies volleyball final on Sunday evening before prevailing over Dominica. Lead by tournament MVP Brenda Allen (left of photo) the ladies from the Basseterre staved off a commendable challenge to win 27-13, 27-29,25-19,19-25,18-16.

Although happy for the upset victory over the home team, coach Steadroy Collins says his squad still needs to work much harder on its defense “I think my team could have played better. Their level of performance was really high for the first set. Then it fluctuated for the rest of the game. We lapsed on defense a lot.”

The victorious run by St. Kitts and Nevis has earned them a spot for the 2011 Norseca championships in Tijuanna Mexico.

Dominica’s coach Albert Loblack commended the loosing finalists for their efforts throughout the tournament but added that his team needs to regain it’s killer instinct. Dominica will engage Trinidad and Tobago, hosts Surinam and other countries at the COZOVA championships later this year.

Hosts Saint Lucia won the 3rd place playoff against Antigua and Barbuda 3-2. Harris Lewis, Coach of Antigua and Barbuda is suggesting that several of his players had difficulty coping with the lack of sufficient ventilation at the indoor playing facility. Similar sentiments were shared by other teams. In response, Brian Louise who heads the Saint Lucia Volleyball Association says concerns regarding the conditions at the venue for the recent regional tournament have been noted.

St. Lucia’s Sancha Isidore was awarded Best Reciever, Best Libero and Best Digger. Emma Edgar also of Saint Lucia was awarded Best Spiker. Dominica’s Elizabeth Joseph and Annmarie Xavier won Best Setter and Best Scorer respectively. Jacklyn Hodge of French St. Martin was awarded Best Blocker the Best Server trophy was presented to Carolyn Christian of Antigua and Barbuda and Brenda Allen of champions St. Kitts and Nevis was awarded the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

The Eastern Caribbean Senior Female Volleyball Tournament is part of the OECS Sports Calendar.

The rankings for the 2011 ECVA championships will feature defending champs St Kitts and Nevis as the top seed, followed by Dominica, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda , Anguilla, French St. Marten, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

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Hodges scored in the 55th minute to give the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) No.1 side a patchy victory at Warner Park Stadium.

Fresh from their decent scoreless draw against World No.36 South Americans Ecuador last Wednesday, the Jamaicans delivered a below-par performance and struggled to get past the Kittitians.

Hodges, who had hit the post with a low shot midway the first half, got the winner 11 minutes into the second half.

Perfectly positioned

After a good build-up by the Jamaicans, Hodges was perfectly positioned near the penalty spot to finish the play, hitting past goalkeeper Kaiyon Benjamin.

St Kitts and Nevis, ranked No.11 in the CFU, were suffering their second loss in a month at Warner Park to a top-flight regional team.

Trinidad and Tobago beat them 3-2 in a friendly here in mid-July.

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Collins, who won the 2003 World Championships 100m title in Paris, first landed the short sprint in 10.08, beating American Mark Jelks (10.09).

CollinsHe returned later to run 20.45, a season best, to beat Germany’s Alexander Kosenkow (20.60).

Collins said he did not expect to run that fast, “although I wanted to.”

“I want to come to Berlin and be one of the guys to return with hardware … I am very positive about it and you have to believe in it to achieve it…

“It’s the same situation (like Paris), now I am feeling a lot better and more confident … if I could get one more (race) in before Berlin and go under 10 seconds, it would increase my chances,” he said.

“My aim is to win a medal and once again be a medalist at the World Championships,” he concluded.

The North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) region also grabbed three other victories through Americans Brenda Martinez, Yvette Lewis and Jamaal Torrance.

American Brenda Martinez was second in the women’s 800m in 2:01.95 behind Czech Republic’s Lenka Masna, who won the event in 2:01.81.

Yvette Lewis of United States won the women’s 100m hurdles, running 12.87 to beat Germany’s Carolin Mytra (12.88) and Lolo Jones (13.22).

Jamaal Torrance of United States won the men’s 400m, running 45.87 to beat Germany’s Kamghe Gaba (46.08).

In the women’s 100m, Jamaican Sherone Simpson, who had knee surgery late last year, was second in 11.12 seconds, beaten by Germany’s Verena Sailer (11.11). Simpson had earlier ran a season best 11.41 in the heats.

Brazil picked up second in the women’s 4×100m relay in 43.77 behind Germany (43.12).

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In what many consider to be a warmup to the World Championships, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell squared off in Stockholm to get a measure of each other one more time before the Championships and yet again Gay showed that he was in top form.

The Americans went 1-2 in this race with Powell being beaten back into third. At the finish line it was Gay 1st, Darvis Patton 2nd and Powell third. The ticker at the end showed:
Tyson Gay – 9.79
Davis Patton – 9.95
Asafa Powell – 9.98
Churandy Martina – 10.01
Jaysuma Saidy Ndure – 10.07
Rae Edwards – 10.07
Kim Collins – 10.10
Michael Frater – 10.17

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The SKNFA U-15 team who at the time were witnessing the match also came under attack by spectators.  Several of our players in both U-17 and U-15 sustained injuries and were hospitalized. At least one player from the U-17 remains in the hospital.

The SKNFA is very disturbed and concerned about this recent development in St. Martin and has activated our Emergency Committee to put in place a plan of action to deal with this crisis. The SKNFA would like to ensure all parents of the U-17 and U-15 teams and the entire St. Kitts-Nevis community that the safety of our young footballer is of paramount importance at this time.

The SKNFA has already contacted the parents of the players who were injured as a result of this incident and has apprised them of the situation.

The SKNFA has contacted the various Government officials and ministries, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Sam Condor, Minister of Sports, Honourable Richard Skerritt, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports Lloyd Lazar and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Mrs. Astonia Browne for assistance in dealing with this serious matter.

The SKNFA is also in contact with the local LIAT representatives and other airlines to bring the players home as soon as possible.

Measures have also been put in place to ensure the safety of all our players and their coaches in St. Martin until their return home.

The SKNFA would like to ensure all parents that we are doing all within our powers to address the currant situation and get the players and coaches home as soon as possible.

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The opening goal came in the 23rd minute when a right side corner by Baptiste fell perfectly for Abu Bakr to clinically side foot past custodian Akile Byron from just inside the six yard box. Seven minutes later the lead was doubled, after a right side cross was partially cleared and Atulla Guerra hit a one-time right footed volley from just on the edge of the 18-yard box, which took a slight deflection from Keyeno Thomas before it rocked the net. T&T should have made it 3-0 by the half, however, Baptiste’s penalty was pushed onto the crossbar by Byron.

St Kitts was not prepared to go down without a fight and pulled a goal back in the 48th minute. A ball was floated over from the left, deep into the area and was headed down to the feet of Ian Lake, who slammed the ball into the net from close range. The equalising goal had a better build up to it and Williams got behind of the T&T defence to pick up possession and turned well before firing low past Phillip.

The eventual winner came when Edwards made his way up the left before squaring for Baptiste to nail home from close up, with 28 minutes in regulation time remaining. Baptiste was once again guilty as he missed a sitter after Andre Toussaint, who decided against shooting from point blank range, and squared a pass for his teammate who dragged his effort wide.

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Spencer Nel and Sandra Vazquez arrived in St. Kitts to renew Adidas’ contract with the Federation for an additional four years, and told local media that they are pleased to further the young but strong relationship.

“Our sponsorship evolved from our sponsorship of Kim Collins, and we have had a fantastic relationship from there.

“It seems that the Federation is doing some wonderful work because it continues to produce some pretty decent athletes, as you can see by some of the junior medalists that have come through in the past couple of years, and we’re fortunate enough to have recently contracted Virgil Hodge to Adidas as well,” Nel, who serves as Adidas’ Global Head of Track and Field Sports Marketing, stated.

Adidas has also designed new uniforms for SKNAAA

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Barbados showed grit and determination to come out 3-1 winners over hosts St. Kitts-Nevis in the curtain closer for Group D. This placed Barbados firmly on top of the group allowing both themselves and St. Kitts to go through to the next round of the Digicel Caribbean Championships. Although dominated in the first half by excellent ground play by the Kittitians, the Bajans rallied back from a goal down to win the game.

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St. Kitts: 1. Delroy Delaney, 14. Zevon Archibald (11. Stephen Clarke min 59), 2. Keithroy Richards, 16. Javin Matthew (4.Elvado Mitchum min 67), 10. Jason Lake, 7. George Issac, 13. Thrizen Leader, 9. Jevon Francis, 6. Irandy Byron, 15. Orlando Mitchum (17. Errol O’Loughlin min 79), 18. Shashi Isaac.

Subs: 01. Delroy Delaney- GK, 5. Rovin Wigley, 3. Earl Jones.

British Virgin Islands: 19. Venton James, 17. Ranelie Cain, 10. Lyndon Remy, 15. Andy Davis (8. Dwayne Ross min 79), 7. Raul Ettienne (12.Randy Johm min 36), 9. Fitzroy Daley (16. Rohan Lennon min 55), 18. Noel Issacs, 5. Elvis Williams, 14. Mervin Dainty, 11. Nano Ottley, 1. Montgomery Butler.

Subs: 13. Raymond Cummings, 4. Alex Green, 22. Henif James GK, 2. Jevorne Demming.

Goal scorers: George Isaac (15th minute), Zevon Archibald (31st minute), Venton James (own goal – 52nd minute),  Jevon Francis (77th minute)

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