VISITING Ciserone Seagulls of St Lucia were victorious in the opening night of the of the Pharmagen Enterprise three-night club volleyball competition, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Friday night.

In the two games played, Seagulls beat Rollers and hosts Castrol Strikers defeated Defenders.Diving and flying bodies and screaming fans boiled over to all out intensity. Although the Strikers/Defenders encounter was entertaining, it was the feature clash between Seagulls and Rollers that really heated up the sports hall. In that game, Rollers shocked the Seagulls in the first set with good ball movement and gritty plays.

The Berbician team started off on a 4-0 lead and by the first technical time out they had moved to 8-2.

A few spikes by the visiting team brought them back into the game but Rollers were still in front 16-11, at the second technical time out.

Rollers then returned most of the shots of the visiting team to carry the score to 21-11, which eventually rolled over to 25-16 in favour of the Berbice side.

In the second game, former St Lucia National player Claude Richard took control, setting plays and raising the intensity of his side. With the score on 1-4, Seagulls captain Kevin Jean spiked two consecutive points to carry his team to 3-4. The Rollers were not giving up, creating hustle plays with plunging and even kicking shots.

Seagulls’ experience paid off and they claimed victory 25-17. Their dominance continued and they triumphed in the last two sets, 25-22 and 25-13.

After the game Jean who captained the St Lucian side in 2004 said his team took a while to get accustomed to the conditions of the venue.

“We took a little long to get our rhythm going; it is different conditions. But this is low compared to how we normally play.”

Jean said he was rather impressed with the Rollers players whom he called “hustlers”.

In the opening game, Castrol Strikers won three consecutive sets, with lots of spiking from their strong players. The first game was won 25-18.

Defenders did come back in the second game and their line-up counteracted the powerful Strikers spiking with soft shots in the gaps, but it was not effective enough and Strikers recorded the second victory, 25-20.

The Strikers also won the third set (25-18), but in the earlier stage it was Defenders who lead 7-1.

Last night Strikers were expected to clash with the Seagulls in the feature game, while in the opener Rollers were scheduled to meet Defenders.

Tonight, Strikers will come up against Rollers in the feature clash and Defenders meet Seagulls.