University of T&T
The league now in its second year takes place at the University of the West Indies Sports and Physical Educational Centre, St Augustine until Sunday June 2.
On Wednesday, in their opening matches, UTT faces debutants New Arising Sporting Company (NASC) from 7pm while two hours later Technocrats come up Toco Youths, another team on debut.
In the first session from 12 noon, last year’s runner-up, Technocrats men meet BIG South East Port-of-Span (SEPoS) while Glamorgan women, beaten in last year’s final face Technocrats at 2pm.
Last year in the women’s final national senior women’s team captain Krystle Esdelle was voted as the “Most Valuable Player” of the tournament after she led the UTT past Glamorgan 27-29, 23-25, 25-23, 26-24, 17-15 in a very entertaining final to capture the US$5,000 winner-take-all top prize. This after Glamorgan held 18-14 and 24-21 leads in the third and fourth sets respectively.
For this year’s event, UTT will once again be led by its core of national players led by Esdelle, Channon Thompson, Courtnee-Mae Clifford, Abigail Gloud, Abby Blackman, Renele Forde and Sinead Jack.
Thompson, 19, is coming off a stellar two-days of competition in the NORCECA Second Round Women’s Group I qualifiers in which she was voted as the “Most Valuable Player” along with copping the “Best Scorer”, “Best Spiker” and “Best Server” awards while Clifford collected the “Best Libero”, “Best Receiver” and “Best Digger” and Jack, the “Best Blocker”.
But this year, Glamorgan has beefed up its squad with the inclusion of American trio Kim Willoughby, Kaylee Mann and Gwendolyn Rocker, in addition to the returning pair of European-based Barbadians, Shari Matthews (Serbia) and Anicia Wood (Spain). They will be joined by national players, Finland-based Darlene Ramdin, Ayanna Dyette and Rechez Lyndsay.
In the Technocrats squad are national duo, Andrea Kinsale, Samatha Prescott, Kelly-Anne Billingy and Rheeza Grant as well as Curacao’s Christine Anthony, Jamaican Cherine Richards and USA’s Meagan Johansen while US Virgin Islands’ duo, Valissia Brathwaite and Danielle Selkridge as well as St Lucians, Tramaine Edwards, Dania Hamilton, Samantha Mann and Kashima Noel are part of the NASC contingent.
The men’s four-team tournament which also features last year’s beaten finalists, Technocrats, BIG SEPoS and Toco Youths will also sees a host of international players headed by local Marc-Anthony Honore.
Honore is coming off a successful season in Europe where he helped Benfica to its fifth Portugese A-1 Division title and will line up for Technocrats alongside fellow national players Kevin Nimrod, Sean Morrison, as well as juniors Nicholas Prescott and Newton Grant.
The international contingent for with Dale Addison (Barbados), Jose Caceres (Dominican Republic), Elvin Contreras (Dominican Republic), Delford Morgan (Jamaica), Ricardo Chong (Jamaica),
Glamorgan has also bolstered it squad with national setter Saleem Ali and Ryan Stewart being joined by Bahamian trio Byron Ferguson, Shedrick Forbes and Prince’taniqe Wilson, Barbadians, and USA’s Jordan DuFault.
Last year, Glamorgan battled past Technocrats 26-24, 28-30, 18-25, 31-29, 16-14 inspired by the athleticism of guest player Germany’s Sebastian Haehner, the men’s tournament “Most Valuable Player” award winner and libero Jamaal Ferguson of Bahamas.
However, while Ferguson has returned, Haehner has not leaving the way open for possibly a new champion to emerge.
Barbadian duo Fabien Cox and Alain London will link up with T&T internationals, Jessel Davis, Brandon Legall, Nolan Tash and Akim Bushe as well as Surinamese pair, Gino Naarden and Keven Sporkslede.
Newcomers, Toco Youths have acquired the services of Guyana’s Quency Matherson, St Lucian beach player Joseph Clercent, and Puerto Ricans Pablo Guzman and Roberto Rodriguez to join the local beach quartet of Simon Blake, Colin Bernard, Fabien Whitfield and Daneil Williams.
The four teams in each group will first contest a round-robin series at the end of which first plays fourth and second meets third in the semifinals on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s final and third place playoffs.
Overall, 31 overseas players from Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, USA, Suriname, Guyana and Curacao will be on show.
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