Antigua Barbuda books a place in the finals

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, May 7, 2016 – Antigua/Barbuda booked a place in the finals of the ECVA Youth Females Competition with a straight set victory (25-14, 25- 16 and 26-24) over St. Lucia when both teams met in the curtains game of day 1 of the competition.

The home crowd served as extra player as the vocal support could be heard in shouts and screams on every point won and the urging on after every point lost.

Coach of the Antigua /Barbuda team Rosalie Lewis felt that it was extra confidence among her charges that accounted for the victory. “After our victory over St. Martin earlier in the day and after seeing St. Lucia playing their opening encounter, we felt really positive going into this game.

It wasn’t so easy especially in the third game but I was impressed with our passing and serving, our setting can do with a bit more work but that is expected with a new team such as this one,” she said.

The St. Lucian team showed that it was a heartfelt loss as several of their players were brought to tears at the end of the game.  Coach of the St. Lucia team Samantha Reid admitted that her team was a very passionate bunch. “My team play with a lot of emotion, they are very passionate and when things don’t go their way they tend to break down. Tonight the crowd played a great part in shaking their confidence and consequently we noted a lot of errors from the girls,” she reported. She closed by promising to fix these errors by the third round of matches and earn the right to play in the finals.

Antigua/Barbuda had a great advantage in scoring from Spikes 30 -18 but trailed in Blocks 3-6. The service points were fairly even with Antigua Barbuda getting the edge 11-10.

Three players contributed double figures to the victory for the home team as Britany Gore led with 11 points while Joseanne Lewis and Damia Jackson both contributed 10.

The result sets up a must win match for St. Lucia and St. Martin when both meet in the final round of round robin competition on Sunday May 8^th. The winner of that game will earn a place in the finals against Antigua.