T&T coach Nichol­son Drakes has in­clud­ed four new­com­ers to his se­nior na­tion­al women's vol­ley­ball team which served off their 22nd Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean (CAC) Games cam­paign against host Mex­i­co last night at the Car­do­ba Are­na.This will be the "Ca­lyp­so Spik­ers", six-time Caribbean cham­pi­ons (1998, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014) sec­ond straight CAC Games for the T&T women af­ter end­ing fourth on de­but, four years ago in Mayaguez, Puer­to Ri­co fol­low­ing a four sets loss to Cos­ta Ri­ca in the bronze medal match.

The new­com­ers are Ma­li­ka David­son along with Un­der-23 trio Sak­ile Grannum, Maya Roberts and mid­dle-block­er, Kay­lon Cruick­shank, who was part of the se­nior team at the Con­ti­nen­tal Cham­pi­onship in Om­a­ha, ear­li­er this year with­out much court time.The rest of the team to be led by vet­er­an Kel­ly-Anne Billingy in­cludes Jali­cia Ross-Ky­dd, Sinead Jack, Mar­isha Her­bert, Dar­lene Ramdin, libero Court­nee-Mae Clif­ford, Mak­i­la York and Chan­non Thomp­son, who was vot­ed as the "Most Valu­able Play­er", "Best Serv­er" and "Best Spik­er" af­ter lead­ing T&T past Ja­maica 25-12, 25-13, 25-12 in the 15th Se­nior Caribbean Zon­al Vol­ley­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (CA­ZO­VA) Cham­pi­onship fi­nal on Au­gust 10 at the Jean Pierre Com­plex, Mu­cu­rapo.

The play­ers who were part of the team for the CA­ZO­VA Cham­pi­onship win and not head­ing to Mex­i­co are Renele Forde and Rheeza Grant due to in­jury, and Ab­by Black­man (beach vol­ley­ball du­ties).In Ve­r­acruz, the "Ca­lyp­so Spik­ers" will com­pete in a very tough Pool B round-robin se­ries against 2010 sil­ver medal win­ners Puer­to Ri­co, bronze medal­list Cos­ta Ri­ca and host Mex­i­co while Cu­ba, Colom­bia, Venezuela and de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic are in Pool A.To­day, T&T will Puer­to Ri­co fol­lowed by Cos­ta Ri­ca on Mon­day to end round-robin pool play in the eight-team tour­na­ment ahead of the play­offs.

WOMEN's Group­ing and Fix­tures

Pool A: Cu­ba, Colom­bia, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Venezuela

Pool B: Puer­to Ri­co, Cos­ta Ri­ca, Mex­i­co, T&T

To­day

Puer­to Ri­co vs T&T, 2pm

Venezuela vs Cu­ba, 4pm

Colom­bia vs Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, 7pm

Mex­i­co vs Cos­ta Ri­ca, 9pm

Mon­day

Venezuela vs Colom­bia, 2pm

T&T vs Cos­ta Ri­ca, 4pm

Cu­ba vs Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, 7pm

Mex­i­co vs Puer­to Ri­co, 9pm

Tues­day

Quar­ter­fi­nals

Wednes­day

Clas­si­fi­ca­tion 5th–8th semi­fi­nals

Main Draw semi­fi­nals:

Thurs­day

Clas­si­fi­ca­tion 7th/8th, 2pm

Clas­si­fi­ca­tion 5th/6th, 4pm

Third place, 7pm

Fi­nal, 9pm

T&T Women's V-Ball squad

Kel­ly-Anne Billingy (cap­tain), Joeli­cia Ross-Ky­dd, Chan­non Thomp­son, Sinead Jack, Mar­isha Her­bert, Dar­lene Ramdin, Ma­li­ka Davi­do­son, Court­nee-Mae Clif­ford (libero), Mak­i­la Yorke, Sak­ile Grannum, Maya Roberts, Kay­lon Cruick­shank.

TECH­NI­CAL STAFF

Nichol­son Drakes (coach),

Mac­sood Ali (as­sis­tant coach),

Peer Nas­seir (man­ag­er)