Turkey-based T&T senior women’s team volleyballers, Channon Thompson, Sinead Jack and Krystle Esdelle were all recipients of individual awards at the conclusion of the women’s volleyball tournament of the 2018 Barranquilla XXIII Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barraanquilla, Colombia, on Wednesday night.
Thompson, the reigning Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) women’s ‘Most Valuable Player’ was named the CAC Games ‘Best Wing Spiker’ while Jack copped the ‘Best Middle Blocker’ accolade, and Esdelle, the ‘Best Server’.
Ironically, the trio were the lone T&T players to score in double-figures in the team's straight sets win over Venezuela earlier on the night in the fifth to sixth place play-off match. T&T won 3-0 after scores of 26-24, 25-19 and 25-20.
The national women’s team coached by Cuban Francisco ‘Panchee’ Cruz, who had a best-ever finish of fourth in 2010 in Puerto Rico, showed an undying will to beat Venezuela which saw the team committed only 11 unforced errors, while their opponents committed 33.
The T&T team led by Renele Forde prevailed with a sizeable 43-27 in kills and also kept Venezuela’s strongest scorers quiet with a huge 15-0 blocking margin as well as 7-3 in aces.
Thompson tallied 17 points, including 15 kills while Esdelle also scored 17 points, including five blocks and four aces, while Jack added 15 points.
Winderlys Medina of Venezuela scored 13 points and Nelamira Valdez 10 points.
Overall, T&T finished with 3-3 win-loss record after beating Costa Rica as well, while Venezuela with a 2-4 mark in sixth place
Commenting on the performance of the T&T team which also swept past Cuba 3-0 on Tuesday night, for a first win ever against that country, in the fifth to eighth place semifinals, Thompson said the team decided to give it their all after failing to reach their main goal of a podium finish.
“Our main goal was to win a medal, but since we couldn’t we came out to win the fifth position and represent our country to the best we could.
She added, ‘Venezuela is a very resilient and strong team, they beat Cuba and five sets, and so in the third set they were above and for us it was only a matter of being patient, pulling ourselves together, remaining calm and doing what we can do”.
About their upcoming debut at the FIVB World Championship in Japan in late September, Thompson added: “We are going back home to practice, hopefully, we can have our own home court to train every day and have better facilities, that some things will be put in place to prepare”.
Cruz coach of T&T for the past 12 years, who plans to step down after Japan said “We wanted to improve our team’s game level for the World Championship and I consider we did.
‘We came from less to more and physically the team has been recovering well, yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) we played much better. Darlene Ramdin wasn’t able to play much today (Wednesday) because she has problems with her knee and we changed our game system with another player, therefore some imprecisions.
Overall he said his team was leaving Colombia with much more experienced and well prepared and he hopes it won’t be lost in Trinidad”.
The Dominican Republic won a fifth straight gold medal when they defeated host Colombia 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 in the final, while Puerto Rico battled past Mexico, 26-24, 15-25, 25-19, 27-29, 15-12 for bronze.
