THE women's national volleyball squad takes on three top North American sides this weekend in its final work out before the Island Games in Rhodes this summer.The squad recently came back with eight back-to-back defeats from the Boston Bean Pot tournament but coach Gary Leblanc is not despondent.

He said: "It is a rigorous tournament. We played eight games over the course of the day against some very tough competition. It was a good learning experience for us."

And he said the tourney had allowed him to have a good look at where people should be playing ahead of this weekend's tournament and Rhodes.

"We made some slight modifications and we will go with those changes for this tournament coming up and hope for the best.

"We are making fine tuning adjustments as we head into the last couple of months before Rhodes," said LeBlenc who was reluctant to share details ahead of the Bermuda Open which began at Warwick Academy last night.

Thankfully his selection headaches are good ones. "We have a lot of players that are continually getting better and better."

Two Bermuda teams will take on Downstate of Chappaqua, New York, the Orange Crush of Livingston, New Jersey and the Red Deer Queens from Alberta, Canada.

"These are three new teams we have never seen before," said LeBlanc.

The Red Deer Queens are the former college team of national player Kelly Ross from Alberta, Canada. "They look to be a very strong team for sure," said LeBlanc. "The two teams from New York are pretty highly level club teams."

They were invited by Vicki Zorilla, who trains with the national team, who used to play with those clubs back in the US.

"I expect them to be very tough competition. We are looking forward to it for sure. It is going to be the same level of volleyball as we saw at the Bean Pot."

It will also give vital exposure to unknown competition and a break form the monotony of playing each other. "We need time together but it is very hard to do because we are so far away, it is such a small group so it's a challenge for us every year when we go to these tournaments to be at the level of the top club teams.

"Last year at the Bean Pot we were able to take a game from one of the big teams which was a big deal for us because these are pretty high level teams we are playing. It's not a matter of winning or losing — it's getting the experience on the court. We are very proud of our girls."

Asked for his aims in this weekend's tournament LeBlanc said: "We want to get to the final match — it is going to be tough and we are going to need to be on our toes the whole time."

Making it more difficult for Bermuda is the fact that the squad is split into two teams — but LeBlenc said it was necessary to make sure each player in the 16-woman squad got as much exposure as possible ahead of the much bigger prize — the Island Games.

He wants the women to get a medal this year after placing sixth last time around.

The free event started last night and continues tonight at 7 p.m. at Warwick Academy.

Tomorrow the action moves to Mount St. Agnes beginning at 10 a.m. The semis are set for 11.30 a.m., the third place play-off for 1 p.m. and the final for 3 p.m.