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Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts get on winning track

 

Beausejour, St Lucia, September 6, 2012- Antigua and Barbuda rebounded from their lost to Dominica to sweep French St Martin 3-0 ( 26-24, 25-11, 25-16) `In Group B of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association Men’s Final Round taking place here at the indoor facility .

 

French St Martin pushed the Antiguans in the first set, but faltered badly in the next two.

The match was characterized by several faults at serving as both teams were guilty of this infraction.

 

Antigua and Barbuda came away with maximum five points to take their tally to seven, having claimed two from their 2-3 loss to Dominica on Thursday night. French St Martin is on zero points as they failed to take a set from their rivals.

 

Coach of the Antigua and Barbuda team, Fitzroy Benjamin stated: “It was a much better showing than against Dominica, although there were some lapses in certain areas of the court”.

 

He added: “We did we have had to do this morning and hope that can put us into the number one ranking in our group, which depends on the outcome of the Dominica versus French St Martin match.”

 

Assessing his team’s performance, Captain of Antigua and Barbuda, Xavier Roberts said: “Once we got on top we never changed anything. We sort of let up in the first set, but we recovered and went back to the basics and maintained it from there.”

 

The next match in the tournament will be a Group A feature, as St Kitts comes up against St Vincent and the Grenadines. It will be St Kitts’ first match in the three team grouping. St Vincent and the Grenadines was defeated 3-0 on Thursday night by host St Lucia.

 

Also on Friday morning, St Kitts got off the mark, registering five points, in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-15) defeat of St Vincent and the Grenadines in Group A. St Kitts and St Lucia play for group winner status later today and secure a berth straight to the semi -finals.

 

The lost though condemned St Vincent and the Grenadines to their second defeat as they now have to play the second place team from Group B, when the quarter final round begins Saturday morning.

 

For St Kitts’s Coach Glenn Quinlan, it was just a matter of getting the job done and a match under their belt.

“It is the first time that we have been together since June, as our team is built up of players who live in St Kitts and those in St Thomas. What I wanted to focus on in this game was a low risk strategy”, Quinlan said.

 

“I was fairly comfortable with the level of execution that we had. We are now going to strategise against the St Lucians as they play at a very high level…they have got their captain, Jason Octave, who really makes a big difference on that team … we are going to play our game, and let the chips fall where they may,” Quinlan stated.

 

Captain of the St Kitts team, Steadroy Collins while congratulating the St Vincent and the Grenadines team for a well- played match, sided with Quinlan stating that their first match was basically to get some match practice for the St Lucia encounter.

 

“We are going to the match with confidence as everyone is here to win”, Collins reaffirmed.

 

The other match set for later today is in Group B and pits Dominica, who are on three points versus French St Martin, who are pointless.