Naps, St Joseph Convent battle for Petrotrin girls v-ball crown

Sparked by the brilliance of national senior blocker Nadiege Honore, skipper Navienne Abraham, Beulah Yogi and Aleya Reece, Naparima Girls High advanced to the Petrotrin Secondary Schools Volleyball Senior Girls final, carded for Thursday at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena (CRISA), Chaguanas. Naps will do battle with defending champions St Joseph Convent, Port-of-Spain in the grand finale which should be a very exciting contest.

This is the first time that the South Zonal champion will take on the might of the perennial North Zone champion team who have national stars Aisha Sealey and KellyAnn Billingy in their line-up. Naps defeated South Zone rivals Asja Girls College 25-14 and 25-19 in their semi-final clash while St Joseph Convent turned back their zonal runner-up Holy Name Convent “A” 25-15 and 25-19 in the other semi-final encounter last weekend. ASJA Girls took the bronze medal by getting the better of Holy Name Convent “A” in the third place play-offs. The South runners-up won 25-20 and 25-13.

In the quarter-finals, Asja beat Holy Name Convent “B” team 25-23 and 25-19 while Holy Name Convent “A” gained a walk-over from Pleasantville Senior Comprehensive which did not show up for the clash. Naps, coached by Mervyn Beckles, proved too much for their southern rivals as Khadija Ramkumar, Christal Bhola, Alysha Ali, Mariam Mohammed and Ola Smith supported Honore, Yogi, Abraham and Reece in getting their team to the national senior girls final. Meanwhile, Billingy strengthened St Joseph Convent, which lost the services of national stalwarts Jenna Ferguson, Marina Camps and Danya Augustus. The ace attacker helped demolish her former schoolmates who won the national under 16 title last year with her overall prowess at the net.