Guadeloupe opens with straight sets victory over Grenada

POINTE-A - PITRE, Guadeloupe, June 15, 2013  - Guadeloupe successfully defended their home turf in the opening encounter of the  World Championship Qualifier - Group N when they brushed aside team Grenada  in straight sets (25- 18, 25 -16 and  25- 17).

The French attack was shared evenly as Perrot Heindrick and Marcelle Micheal contributed 10 points each while Rosnel Gammiette, Saha Ludovic and Baltyde Ludovic combined for 27 points of the 75 points earned. Heindrik led in spikes (6) while Rosnel and Mickael control the net with effective blocks. Meanwhile, Saha Ludovic poured in five (5) aces throughout the game.

Adam Lafeuillee led Grenada with 6 points in a losing cause. Four (4) points each from Darren Oxford and Akim Ankews were the next best efforts.

Raphael Brathwaite the coach of Grenada acknowledged being beaten by a stronger team on the day. I must congratulate Guadeloupe for displaying a high level of volleyball but having said that I am dissatisfied with my team because we can do better," he noted. We now have to put this loss behind us and get back to the drawing board to put in a better performance in our next game", he said.

Guadeloupe's coach Oliver Ismael was satisfied  but not overly impressed with his charges." It was a good victory but I had some concern particularly in the third set when we made more mistakes than we ought to have made", he admitted.

Group favourite Honduras and Dominica are scheduled for match 2 of the qualifying round where one team automatically advances to the next round and the second place team has the chance to take one of the four slots available for runners up.