December 14, 2009 - Sentry Insurance Brokers Deacons are the new queens of Goddards Enterprises Limited division one volleyball!

Deacons clinched their sixth title on Monday night at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex with a vengeful, 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, win over the 2008 champions, British American Insurance Chargers.  Deacons had lost their knockout title to Chargers at the start of the 2009 season.

The fired up offense by six-footers, Annette Chapman, Julia Lewis, Fabia Greaves and Danielle Evanson suggested that Deacons were not only keen on repeating their first round win over chargers, but they wanted to return the straight sets defeat which they had suffered in the knockout finals.

Chapman and Lewis attacked with great force and greater consistency than usual.  While the lesser rated Mona Crawford showed that she could contribute significantly, setter Sharleen Brown ran a superb game and she matched libero Marissa Dowell in ground defence also.

Unfortunately, Chargers’ depended too much on veteran Sharon Bovell and the in form Avara Brown as national setter Afyia Taylor played well.  However, neither Taylor nor her coaches could find consistent attackers on court or on the bench to halt the Deacons’ onslaught.

When it seemed that the game was over, Chargers found a spark to rally from, 18-20, to, 23-20, before snatching the third set at, 25-23.   That loss forced coach Andrew Culpepper to revert to his original starting six and for Deacons to continue their barrage of spikes.

During that critical set Chapman executed a demoralizing one-on-one block on Brown to then scream, “You don’t want none of these!”  At that stage it was obvious that Chargers did not want any of the champagne which Deacons would later uncork to celebrate another volleyball title.

Earlier Erdiston Rockets capped off a remarkable season by taking the third position by downing Carefree Toners to another five sets surrender, 24-26, 25-22, 13-25, 25-20, 15-11.

Deacons finished with a perfect 50 from a 10/0 season to end eight points clear of Chargers.  There is a big gap between second and third with a distance of 14 points leaving the Rockets on 28, Toners on 22, Powerade the Club on 16 and Caribbean Alliance Carlton not mimicking their cricketers as they finished in the volleyball cellar with 11 points.