Antigua & Barbuda makes it two straight as French St. Martin falls

Marigot,  French St. Martin,  August 31,  2012 – Antigua and Barbuda marched on to victory over French St. Martin but this time they dropped a set (25-16, 21-25, 25-17and 25-16) in match number four of FIVB Men’s World Championship Qualification Tournament NORCECA Group D.

Rotilio Richardson of French St. Martin was impressive with 17 spikes but Collin Thomas of Antigua was better as he had 17 spikes and 3 service winners.

Coach Jean Luc of French St. Martin conceded that Antigua Barbuda was the better team on the night. “Antigua/Barbuda is a moving team they defend well and tonight all our departments were just a level below theirs,” he admitted. “We changed the tactics in set #2 and gained a victory but Antigua/Barbuda readjusted in set #3 and we could not find a solution to their changes,” he admitted. “The match gave us good motivation going forward and now we are looking forward to second place as we are improving from match to match,” he beamed.

Fitzroy Benjamin - Coach of the Antigua/Barbuda pointed to the improvements in his team as the reason for victory. “We have moved from about 10% to about 75 % execution with room for improvement but once we execute that well we are confident of victory,” he noted. “In the second set we tried to introduce some new players in relatively new positions but by the time we changed it was too late. We readjusted in set # 3 and everything continued in our favour,” he reflected.

Antigua Barbuda leads the group after day 1 with 9 points while French St. Martin is in second place with 6 points. Anguilla is in third with 4 points while Dutch St. Maarten (1) and Bermuda (0) bring up the rear.