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. |