St Lucia survive scare to power past Anguilla

GROS ISLET, St Lucia,   August 12, 2017:  St Lucia had to overcome a spirited Anguilla outfit to emerge 3-1   (21-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) of the men’s Group D of the NORCECA Zone of the FIVB World Championships Qualifiers  round for teams in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA),  at the Beausejour Indoor Facility.

Anguilla, coming off a 3-0 defeat by St Maarten silenced St Lucia in the first set, much to the consternation of the partisan home crowd.

More uneasiness came as Anguilla began steering the course deep into the second set, before running out of steam.  

St Lucia’s ace player – Joseph Clercent led him team’s resurgence, as he ended after the four sets with 31 points. The Outside Hitter was exerted some brute force at times, turning on the Lucia pressure on Anguilla. Another Outside Hitter- Anfernee Ferdinand put together 13 points as well for St Lucia.

Anguilla’s best scorers were Outside Hitter- Sherwin Richardson and Setter- Ian Connor, who recorded 16 and 11 points, respectively.

In the areas of Attacks and Blocks, St Lucia outnumbered Anguilla. St Lucia won Attacks 47-31 and Blocks at 11-10.

The two were equal in Aces at 3, but Anguilla was more proficient in errors, conceding 35, while St Lucia committed 37.

Despite winning the match, St Lucia’s Head Coach – Terry Verdant expressed dissatisfaction with his team’s play.

“We were bad on blocking … We have not played as yet the system that we have practised”, Verdant remarked.

Verdant admitted that at times during the match he felt some concerns, but relief grew as the match wore on.

Encouraged by the his team’s improvements from their first outing, Anguilla’s Head Coach – Justus Connor analysed, “We played the way we know that way we can play , but just a few unforced errors at critical points of the match, again it was the mental side of our game that let us down”.

Connor is hopeful that his charges will continue to get better in their remaining matches.