El Salvador outlasts St Lucia in close encounter

GROS ISLET, St Lucia, April 27, 2013 - El Salvador kept their winning streak intact , when they outlasted St Lucia 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 26-24) in match four of the NORCECA Second Round in Pool J Tournament of the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championships.

The close encounter kept the home fans at the edge of their seats, as they wooed their team on with every point scored, or at the blocks at the net.

But that was at times subdued by the regular scoring of the El Salvadorians.

The top hand for El Salvador was Franscisco Hernandez with 17 points, while David Vagras contributed 11.

For St Lucia, Joseph Clercent had 21 points and Julian Bissette accounted for 13.

The El Salvador captain Carlos Amaya thought his team played well considering the physical nature of the St Lucians and the home support the host gained on the night.

“We were able though to manage the game properly and won points at crucial stages and went on to win,” Amaya said.

Losing coach Kendall Charlery pointed to several factors which he thought cost his team the match.

“We lost our way a bit against a very experienced El Salvador team and it showed ….Some of our main guys were not their usual selves, we missed a lot of points; we had a lot of net calls…There were too many unforced errors and that cost us the match,” Charlery reasoned at the outcome.

“We are using this game as a wake call and lift our head for the remainder of the competition”, Charlery stated.

The unbeaten El Salvador meets Haiti, who has one win and one loss in Sunday’s first match from 9am.

St Lucia with one win meets the winless St Kitts and Nevis, thereafter to close off the preliminary phase of Pool J.