Honore opts out v-ball team

Stephanie Woodroffe replaces teenaged blocker Nadiege Honore on the Trinidad and Tobago Beach volleyball team entered for the inaugural Discovery Coors Light NORCECA Beach Volleyball Cup to be staged in Puerto Rico from October 9 to 12.

Honore who emerged as senior NORCECA’s third best blocker at the recently concluded senior championships held in the Dominican Republic was forced to turn down the selection because of her desire to fulfill one of the volleyball scholarships offered to her by American Universities. She was forced to miss writing the SAT examination during the month while representing TT at the NORCECA Senior Champion-ships. The first NORCECA Beach Volleyball Cup coincides with the next sitting of the SAT exams. And because of the clash of the two important events, 17-year-old Honore had to turn down the national selection made by the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation. The Naparima Girls High sixth form student has improved immensely and proven her worth on both national junior and senior teams this year. The junior team retained the NORCECA Junior crown, which they won in Suriname in 2001.

This year they whipped archrivals Netherland Antilles in the preliminary round and finals as they did in Suriname. And in her first senior outing, Honore placed third overall among the region’s leading blockers. The United States of America’s captain Danielle Scott topped the blockers’ list with an overall average of 0.79 from 11 successful kills and 23 rebounds from 56 attempts. Second place went to the newly-crowned Pan-American champion team Dominican Republic’s star Annerys Valdez Vargas who had 13 kills and 27 rebounds off 59 attempts for an average of 0.68. Honore, playing three matches less than her established world-ranked counterparts, finished with six kills and 13 rebounds from 26 attempts for an average of 0.67. Woodroffe will partner national hitter KellyAnn Billingy in the women’s competition, which has a first prize of US $2,700. A total of 16 teams will be vying for the overall US $10,000 at stake. All pairs making the quarter-finals will collect a minimum of $400 in prize money.

TT are also sending a men’s team, which comprises Nolan Tash (SEPOS) and Sean Morrison (Glamorgan), but their selection was made before the completion of the Stag Spikedown Beach Volleyball competition, which concluded last Sunday at the Maracas Beach where David Thomas and Kevin Edwards showed that they are the best men’s pair in the country. They won the Mayaro Showdown on Republic Day and returned to beat off the challenge of “Vessigny Kings” Saleem Ali and Abishay Kissoon. As it stands the two topmost teams are not in the fray for regional honours. According to the TTVF president Mushtaque Mohammed, they had to submit the names of the players two weeks ago and they went for the combination which they felt were capable of making an impression. Tash and Morrison represented the country at the Pan-American Games held during August in the Dominican Republic and reached the round of 32. The TT Beach volleyball teams were due to depart yesterday.