AN ANIMATED Avara Brown and the usually reliable Sharon Bovell saw Chargers defying the odds to retain the Cooperators General Insurance Knockout Volleyball crown with a 25-13, 25-20, 12-25, 25-21, over favourites Rockets at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex on Wednesday night.
   The Rockets had played unbeaten in the preliminaries, and with the outstanding form of professionals Shari Matthews and Anicia Wood, they were picked to repeat the straight sets drubbing they had inflicted on Chargers to win their second knockout title.
   However, Brown, who had played for the Rockets for over ten years, was outstanding in attack and her blocking nullified many of the Rockets’ counters.
   Setter Akeelah Blenman was consistent, with libero Nellie Pilgrim superbly controlling ground defence, while captain Thonya Joseph, Dania Hamilton and Akeila Phillips gave excellent support for the Chargers.
The Rockets found some hope after the Chargers seemed to lose focus and floundered in the third set.
Hamilton, coming down with an injury and being lifted from the court, also provided some respite for the Rockets, who bled points profusively whenever Wood and Matthews were in the back court. Underrated Sasha Harewood and reserve player Annette Roach made some contributions but the setting choices of Jess Le also hurt the Rockets.
Le’s equitable distribution of sets was most painful in the critical fourth set with the Rockets fighting to get the match into the decisive fifth set with Katrina Wickham and Roach being given the ball to lose the points, with six-footer Wood salivating in the front court at net.Â
On a night when Brown came alive raising her arms in triumph after every kill, there was little that the Rockets could do to stop Chargers from winning their ninth knockout crown.
