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By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda senior women’s volleyball team, Wadadli Spikers, will go into this weekend’s Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Final Four Championships under the pressure and/or expectations they will emulate the winning performance put on by the senior men’s team last weekend.
This is according to player/coach, Rosemarie “Rosie” Simon, who said the Men’s made it look easy and that the expectation now, is that the Women’s will match that energy.
“It puts a lot of pressure on the team because they went out and they did their thing. Everybody was mad at them because of how they played the game. That really didn’t make a difference if they won or lose so a lot of people didn’t understand that scenario there or that situation, but they went out that night and decided they’re not going to kill themselves on that night. They’re going to watch and see what the other country was bringing and how they could tackle; look at their weaknesses and defend; build from that and they came out the other night and they were beasts on the court,” she said.
Simon, who was originally named head coach of the Women’s team, said she was forced to take up a playing role after several players pulled out of the tournament for various reasons. The team will now be coached by Brazilian coach, Augusto Sabbatini with Simon as assistant.
“Rightfully, he’s [Augusto Sabbatini] going to be the head coach of the team. I am assistant coach/ player so I’ve been absolutely thrown in the batch last minute because of certain circumstances. So I’m still listed as assistant coach but I might have to play the tournament – well I will be playing the tournament. We are missing some key players from this tournament and it is absolutely necessary that we’re going to need some sort of experience and that’s why I had to be so thrown back into the mix,” the veteran player said.
Antigua and Barbuda will open their campaign against Grenada this evening starting at 8:30 p.m. The home team will then face Bermuda at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday before taking on St Lucia on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. The finals will be contested on Sunday night. All matches will be played at the volleyball facility located at the YMCA Sports Complex.
Full Squad: Rosemarie Simon, Faith Gibson, Nia Benjamin, Jahzara Donovan, Philisha Burnette, Allisha Jno Baptiste, Alliyah Smith, Tiffiney Kaladin, Jerri-Ann Barnes, Nyota Mali Peters, Nashea Browne, Tia Walker, Samrah Samuel and Morgen Halstead.
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