Young women v-ballers lose to Canada

The young Trinidad and Tobago women’s team was given a baptism of power volleyball by Canada on Sunday in the NORCECA Champion-ships opening round match in Santo Domingo.

Playing before an appreciative crowd the Aisha Sealy-led team found out that life at the higher level is uncompromising for young aspirants seeking glory. The TT v-ballers were rushed to the Dominican Republic to fulfill an undertaking made by the Volleyball Federation to replace Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) champions Barbados. Playing for the first time at NORCECA level, TT succumbed to the Cana-dians in three straight sets 12-25, 9-25, 10-25 in their Group ”A” fixture. However, Group “A” favourites, the Dominican Republic gave their loyal supporters much to shout about and celebrate when they whipped Puerto Rico in three straight matches to 25-23, 25-16, 25-16.
Having captured the 2003 Pan-American gold medal, the homesters are expected to top Group “A” and advance to the semi-finals. In fact, the locals are hoping that their team can repeat their Pan-Am Games exploits and also clinch one of the top qualifying spots for the World Women Championships, which is scheduled for Japan between November 1 to 15.

According to TT coach Macsood Ali, the young Trinidadians are using these matches as preparation for next year’s NORCECA Junior Cham-pionships which will be staged in Montreal, Canada. And the parents of these talented young stars dished up over TT $4,000 each to send their children to these championships after no financial support was given to them by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs or corporate TT. Cuba and the United States are the traditional powerhouses in NORCECA, which comprises North American, Central American and Caribbean teams.  5 worldwide. Both are in Group B and will clash today to decide the leader, which will automatically advance to this NORCECA semi-final carded for Thursday. TT are up against the Dominican Republic in their final Group “A” match today from 8 pm while Canada and Puerto Rico square off at 2 pm.