Queen’s College are the new knockout queens of Massy Stores Inter-schools volleyball after dethroning defending champions Harrison College in straight sets25-12, 25-19 at the Wildey Gymnasium yesterday.
With national junior player Aaliyah Durant leading the assault and getting tremendous support from fellow Barbados juniors Reanna Durant, Shanae Boyce and Janina Mayers, QC overturned their 2017 loss to the same opponents.
The multi-talented Dana Brathwaite, along with Jazzica Sealy and Tia Lewis, made significant contributions to deny HC a repeat as double-crown queens.
With junior national captain Ashley Jordan returning from injury, she along with Janiyah Drakes and Donnique Alleyne looked keen to pull the match back to hold on to their crown. They jumped to a 9-4 lead but Brathwaite and Durant scored some crisp kills to lock the scores at 12.
The teams traded points up to 15 and after HC moved to 17-15, Durant showed her experience by blowing apart HC with some telling serves, spiced with three aces to pilot her team to 22-17.
After QC moved to game and match point 24-18, Boyce, who enjoyed a great all-round game, handed them a reprieve with a serving error.
However, Durant, who would later be named MVP, fittingly ended the contest with a searing cross court kill to take the title to Husbands, St James.
Captain Mayers indicated they had not planned specifically for Jordan or any of their opponents who had defeated them in the league.
She said they just planned to play to the best of their ability.
“After losing to College in the league, we basically came out to play the volleyball which our players know and it is a good feeling to win and take this volleyball title,” said Mayers. (KB)
