Chargers men continued their march towards double crown honours but Warrens Jaguars women suffered their first loss when Goddard Enterprises Ltd Division One volleyball continued at the Wildey Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Chargers, who captured the knockout crown this season without losing a match, moved to 4-0 and a maximum 20 league points by thumping Cawmere 25-20, 25-20, 25-18. Cawmere are now limping along on a 1-3 record with seven points.
Queens Warrens went down to the women’s knockout losing finalists, Brydens Rockets 5-25, 16-25, 25-21, 20-25.
In the Chargers game, frightening spiking from southpaw Shawn Simpson provided some hope for Cawmere to follow up on their last game win over Foundation United. However, Mark Lewis, Damien Danzell and Romel Agard, along with setter Alain London reminded Cawmere that Foundation were at the other end of the Division One spectrum.
While Simpson struggled to find consistent support for his vicious attacks, setter London was able to unleash brutal counters to destroy any ideas which Cawmere might have of scoring an upset.
Earlier, losing knockout finalists Coverley Medical Centre Deacons defeated the Juniors 25-13, 26-24, 25-22, to move to 3-1 and 17 points.
The Juniors ended the first round 2-3 with 10 points as Andriy Stapleton fought with little support to at least take a set from Deacons. Holding set point in the second set was squandered when Juniors’ setter Ahkeem Mayers was called for a positional fault.
For Warrens women, Katrina Wickham made a great all-round contribution to the efforts of professional duo Anicia Wood and Shari Matthews. Last season Warrens had pipped the Rockets at the tape to deny them double crown honours.
Once again Rhe-Ann Niles starred for Warrens, who played an inconsistent game to trouble hopes of repeating as league queens. In the second set, Wickham served from 9-11 to 16-11 before Warrens were able to score another point.
The Rockets join knockout queens Flow Sentry Brokers Deacons with 4-0 records and the maximum 20 points. Toners kept Club United winless with a victory 25-15, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20. The Toners are 2-4 with 11 points while Club are on three points from an 0-5 record. (KB)
