BELIZE CITY, Tue. Jan. 31, 2017–The Belize Volleyball National Championship was held this past weekend with 15 matches on Saturday and 6 matches on Sunday at the Belize Elementary gym.  A total of 11 teams participated, with teams coming from Corozal, Orange Walk, Cayo, Spanish Lookout, Toledo, and Belize City.  The team names were: Lady Jaguars, SQ Stars, SQ Junior Stars, Jaguars, Toledo Scorpions, Corozal Massives, SQ Dragons, Alpha Warriors, Orange Walk, Rednecks, and Scorpions.

Scorpions and Jaguars survived the pool of death, 1st and 2nd, while Toledo and Corozal Massives came out of pool B.  In the female division, SQ Stars completed the preliminary round undefeated as #1 ranked females.  Lady Jaguars was 2nd ranked, and Junior Stars 3rd ranked.

Sunday was elimination playoff day.  In the first match, Lady Jaguars won in straight sets, but had to battle in the second set against Junior Stars, 25-14, 28-26, to set up the female championship between SQ Stars and Lady Jaguars.  In the championship match, SQ Stars won the first set handily, 25-13.  Lady Jaguars turned things around in the second set and won, 25-21, setting up a deciding championship set.  The set was close until Lady Jaguars pulled away at 14-11. But it was not done yet, as SQ Stars managed to tie the game, 14-14.  Both teams battled for the 2-point lead.  Lady Jaguars managed to pull out the win and the back-to-back championship, with a 16-14 deciding set win.

In the elimination semifinal male matches, Scorpions and Jaguars won convincingly over Corozal Massives (25-21, 25-17) and Toledo (25-15, 25-20), respectively, to set up the 3rd place and championship matches.  Toledo and Corozal battled for 3rd place, with Toledo pulling out the victory, 25-19, 25-23.

Scorpions were looking to win their first championship, and were feeling confident after defeating Jaguars in the first round of play.  But after 2 days of matches, Jaguars were back in rhythm, and won the national championship in straight sets, 25-19, 25-16, making them back-to-back national champions.

Congrats to all the teams for a competitive and fun tournament!  Congratulations to Jaguars and Lady Jaguars on winning the championship, and for repeating as champions!

Thanks to all the fans and supporters, as well as the officials and all those who assisted in any way to make the tournament a success.