Jamaica Volleyball

The third and final weekend indoor volleyball rally took place recently, and the Jamaica Defence Force made it three successive wins, winning 11 games and losing only once to finish with 34 points on the day and claim the overall Rally crown with 30 points.

Bank of Jamaica placed second at the rally with an 8-4 record, and also finished runners-up in overall points. National Water Commission (NWC) had a 7-5 record for third place with 26 points and 21 overall.

UWI and Guardian ‘A’ finished with identical 6-6 records and 24 points. However, UWI claimed fourth for the day with a +1 differential, compared to Guardian ‘A’s -5 point differential. Notably however, Guardian ‘A’ would get sweet revenge as they were fourth overall with 16 points, while UWI had six points at this their first and only rally of the three so far.

AMECO, who placed sixth in the Rally with a 3-9 record, were fifth overall with 10 points, while Guardian ‘B’ were last with a 1-11 win/loss record and three points overall.

The teams will now turn their attention to the Reggae Jammin Indoor League which gets underway on June 7 featuring ‘best of three’ games. The Jamaica Defence Force are the defending league champions.

After their shock defeat on Saturday to the Bahamas, Jamaica rallied yesterday at the National Indoor Sports Centre to defeat Haiti by three sets to one and clinch third place in the FIVB World Championship qualifying volleyball championship.

The Jamaicans won the first and second sets 25-22, 25-23, lost the third set 22-25, then won the fourth set 25-18 to end their disappointing campaign on a high.

Jamaica’s FIVB World Championship qualification campaign ended last night at the the National Indoor Sports Centre, when they were handed a 1-3 shock defeat by the Bahamas. Jamaica claimed the first set 25-19, but then surrendered three consecutive sets (18-25, 22-25, 22-25). Jamaica were favorites along with Mexico to get by this initial qualifying stage, but now have only the 3rd place playoff match against Haiti to look forward to.

Jamaica’s volley ballers will now turn their attention to the female qualifiers, set to happen July 6-8 at the University of Central Florida Arena.

Jamaica’s male volleyball team completed their 2nd consecutive victory in Group D of the FIVB World Championship qualifiers yesterday, with a 3-0 victory over the Cayman Islands at the National Indoor Sports Centre. Jamaica had 25-11, 25-20 and 25-18 victories in each set to secure the top spot in sub-group A, and will face the Bahamas this evening in semi-final action at 5:00 pm at the same venue.

Regional powerhouses Mexico feature in the other semi-final match today against Haiti. The winners of each of the two semi-final matches will then meet in tomorrow’s final, and both will be guaranteed a place in the next qualifying round.

The Haitian volleyball team arrived at the Norman Maley International Airport yesterday at approximately 10 a.m., but Jamaican immigration officials discovered they did not have the requisite visa documents, and thus they were refused entry into the country. Jamaica Volleyball Association (JVA) officials were notified, and after a letter was sent to Jamaica’s Passport, Immigration and Citizenship office, the visa documentation process for the players was expedited and the visitors were eventually allowed outside the confines of the airport at approximately 7 p.m.

As a result of this 9 hour immigration glitch, the FIVB World Championship Group D qualifying tournament at the National Indoor Sports Centre started two hours late. The opening game between St. Lucia and the Bahamas started at 7:30 (the time that had been slated for the Jamaica/Haiti game) last night, long after its scheduled 5 o’clock start.

Eventually when the Jamaica / Haiti game got underway, Jamaica went on to do a straight set 3-0 annihilation of the Haitians. Jamaica won the sets 25-16, 25-13, 25-20.

Jamaica’s senior men’s volleyball team will begin their hunt for a place in next year’s FIVB Men’s World Championship in Italy tomorrow evening, when they face Haiti in their opening game in Group D of Round Two qualifying action at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

Mexico, St Lucia, Bahamas and Cayman are the other teams in Jamaica’s group, however Jamaica will only face Haiti and the Cayman Islands in the ‘preliminary’ round, and will then play a knockout game against one of the other teams based on their positions after these two games. The top two teams at the end of the tournament will move on to the next phase of qualifying.

Jamaica and favorites Mexico are widely expected to be the two qualifying teams. After tomorrow’s match, Jamaica will be in action once again on Friday (May 22) at 5:00 pm against the Cayman Islands at the same venue.

The Jamaica Volleyball Association will host Group D of the World Championship Qualifiers for men from May 20-24 at the National Indoor Sports Centre. The announcement was made last week by JVA boss Wayne Robinson.

“Preparations are in high gear at this time. We have been having our regular planning committee meetings, in fact the last one was last night (Thursday night) and we are now just trying to put together the finishing touches in terms of administration and sorting out the whole technicalities around hosting such an event. We were asked to host based on our record in terms of the sport in the region, our appeal and certainly our representation in terms of lobbying for the rights to host the event,” said Robinson.

Jamaica will face Mexico, St Lucia, Haiti, Bahamas and the Cayman Islands in round two of the qualifying series, and the top two teams will advance to the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships in Italy.

Jamaica is ranked 66th, and the 35th-ranked Mexican team are overwhelming favorites to win the group, with Jamaica expected to take the second spot.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) continued their dominance of the 2009 Business House Volleyball season with victory in the second event of the competition - the Supreme Ventures One Day Rally - which was held at the UWI Gymnasium yesterday.

Once again, they went unbeaten in the double round-robin competition, gaining 10 points to move to 20 points overall. Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) finished runners-up with eight points and are now on 16 points overall. National Water Commission (NWC) finished 3rd with seven points and 14 overall, while newcomers AMECO hold fourth place on six points and Guardian Life with five points and 11 overall round out the top five. University of the West Indies did not show.

The third and final one day weekend rally will be held on Sunday, May 24, ahead of the Reggae Jammin’ Indoor League which runs throughout the month of June.

The second in the series of one-day Volleyball rallies sponsored by Supreme Ventures takes center stage tomorrow at the U.W.I. Gymnasium starting at 10:00 am.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), who won the previous rally, will enter this second installation with 10 points following their impressive unbeaten run in the first competition. The other competing teams are Bank of Jamaica, National Water Commission, Guardian Life, Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), University of the West Indies Mona and American Equipment Company (AMECO).

Season points will also be up for grabs for this the second as well as the third and final rally which is scheduled for Sunday, May 31.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) yesterday made a winning start to the 2009 Reggae Jammin Business House Volleyball Association season, as they got the better of Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) in the championship game for the first of three one-day rallies at the UWI Gymnasium.

Final score in the championship game was 25-18 to JDF (which finished unbeaten in their six games). Led by Gatasheu Bonner and George Tait, JDF ended with 18 points overall, while second place went to BOJ with 14 points (4 wins, 2 losses). National Water Commission (NWC) pipped Guardian Life for the third spot, with both teams ending the series with one win and five losses each.

For their win, the JDF got a winners trophy as well as gift packages from sponsors Excelsior. With this win, the JDF will also carry over 10 season points to next month’s second rally which is scheduled to happen on April 26. BOJ will enter next month’s rally with 8 season points, with NWC having 7 and Guardian Life 6.