Chargers and Cawmere to clash in KO Volleyball final

Chargers and Cawmere will meet in the final of the Goddard Enterprises Barbados Volleyball Association Division One Knock Out men’s competition.

 

These two teams won in contrasting styles when the semi-finals were held at Oldsbury in St. Philip on Wednesday.

 

Playing in the first match the number one team Chargers predictably won over Barbados Bearing and W Gittens Landscaping Progressive. It was a straight sets victory for Chargers 25-19, 25-20, 25-14.

 

However for Cawmere it was once again a five-set match. They came up against Flow Deacons who narrowly made their way to the playoffs after surprisingly winning their final regular season game against the then undefeated Chargers.

 

Cawmere was the second ranked team heading into the Semis and their season has been punctuated with come-from-behind victories which saw most of their games going to five sets.

On Wednesday, however, they got a taste of what it was like to have a team fight back and push the game to five sets.

 

Even without the initial services one of their big hitters in Mark Lewis – who arrived in the second set – Cawmere looked to be the team in charge, going on to win the first set 25-22 as Deacons struggled to gather any real momentum.

 

In the second set, Lewis arrived but was not needed, so he spent some time on the bench as Deacons pushed Cawmere, but still fell behind when it mattered and it was Cawmere who went up 2-0.

 

With the game seemingly heading for an early end, Deacons found their answer and Adam Niles was finding his mark. This saw Deacons claw their way back into the match by winning the next two sets 25-14, 25-21 and forced a fifth and deciding set.

 

The momentum belonged to Deacons and it carried over the decider as they scored the first points.

 

Cawmere did not seem flustered as they had been in this situation many times before.

 

Rejecting Deacon Kyle Browne with the blocks, while their captain in lefty Shawm Simpson was continuing his power-hitting, Cawmere led 5-2.

 

However, some service errors and long spikes allowed Deacons to level the score at 7-7 and go on to lead 8-7 as the teams switched ends.

 

The see-saw battle ensued with the team trading points at 8-8, 10-10 before Cawmere began to pull away.

 

With the combination of Lewis and Simpson in front court for Cawmere they opened a small two-point lead 12-10 before Deacons nullified it 12-12 thanks to Browne’s consecutive kills.

 

Then Simpson climbed up in the air and reached to the heavens to thunder a monster of a hit down on the Deacons side of the court to swing the tide of what looked like a stalemate.

 

It may have been only one point to push the score to 13-12, but it did wonders for the Cawmere team as they went on to close out the game 15-12 and move onto the finals. (CG)