Achievers add another title to their collection

Oct 25, 2010 Sports

Seizing the opportunity to once again emphasise their dominance locally, West Demerara’s Young Achievers clinically disposed of rivals Castrol Strikers to cart off the first prize of $20,000 and a trophy in the GuySuCo Training Centre (GTC) of Port Mourant sponsored Inter-Club Volleyball Tournament which was played on Sunday in Berbice.
They defeated Castrol Strikers in straight sets 25-21, 25-16 after the two teams had beaten the two units of the Centre in their semi-final clashes.
In the first semi-final Castrol Strikers beat GTC 1 15-12, 13-15, 15-12, while Young Achievers were also taken to three sets, before they prevailed 15-5, 15-17, 15-8.

Young Achievers Captain Randy Adams receives the winning trophy and first prize from Kaneiza Haynes in the presence of teammates on Saturday.

Earlier, GTC 1 survived a tough battle against their #2 unit in two sets 17-15, 15-6 to claim third place, while GTC 3 eased past Eglets of Berbice 15-10, 15-13 to win the Second Division title.
In the preliminary rounds, Castrol Strikers beat GTC 3 30-13; Young Achievers defeated Port Mourant Jaguars 30-18, GTC 1 beat Eglets 30-12, GTC 3 lost to GTC 26-30, Castrol Strikers beat GTC 2 30-23, Eglets went down to Port Mourant Jaguars 17-30, GTC 2 were beaten by Young Achievers 24-30, Eglets suffered defeat at the hands of Young Achievers 9-30 and GTC 1 defeated Port Mourant Jaguars 30-19.
In the final, the champions raced to an early 10-5 advantage with Captain Randy Adams leading the charge with some outstanding all-round play, blocking effectively, but returning to the front court to produce some thunderous spikes.
Castrol Strikers, however, made a fight of it with Adolph Davis and Ian Wills producing some inspiring play as well.
Wills was extremely impressive with his decision making as he used his vast experience to outfox his opponents with some deft top overs when they were expecting his usual explosive spikes.
They closed the gap, coming within three points, down 11-14 at one stage, but the relentless Young Achievers never looked fazed or flustered and continued their assault at the front court.
The usually calm Christopher Ramsundar suddenly came into his own and delivered some telling spikes, while Adams and company kept up the pressure allowing them to hold off the charging Castrol Strikers unit en route to a first set win.
The level of the first set had fans eagerly anticipating a frenetic battle in the second stanza, but that was not to be as Castrol Strikers returned to their usual self and completely self destruct.
Adams and his teammates were quick to recognise this and they eased to an easy second set win and title.
President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) Lenox Shuffler, who was part of the day’s proceedings in his remarks following the conclusion of the tournament, first thanked the organisers for keeping the sudden momentum of the sport going, adding that he is encouraged by the fact that more clubs are now seeing the sport’s rebirth as part of their responsibility and not just the GVF’s.
“I want to say here today, that I’m heartened by the work of the GuySuCo Training Centre and I would like to personally congratulate Mr. Levi Nedd for pulling off a wonderful tournament and for all the work he and his staff has done to execute a successful competition,” Shuffler stated.
The sport’s forward thrust will continue with the staging of the GVF organised Inter-club Tournament which has among its major sponsors Digicel and is expected to commence early next month.
The following sponsors of the just concluded tournament came in for special mention and they are Balram Shane Variety Store, GTC Management, Poonia’s Pharmacy of Rose Hall Town, Jainarine Sukpaul, Victor Drepaul and Godfrey Persaud General Store.