St. Vincent and the Grenadines survives a scare on route to
the finals
ST JOHNS, Antigua, August 31, 2019 – St. Vincent and the
Grenadines overcame a feisty Antigua Barbuda team and
overturned a one game deficit to win in 4 sets ( 17-25,
25-16, 25-18 and 26-24).
A small but rowdy home crowd gave yeoman support by
screaming, shouting, banging the boards and at times
coaching in an effort to give their team the edge. Team SVG
remain stoic and got their Outside Hitters executing the
kills on a more regular basis as the games went on. In fact
Kyle Liverpool 15 (points) and Enrico Louraine (8 points) to
combined for 23 points from that position. The other high
scorer for Team SVG was the captain and setter –Jamaar
Cropper who knocked down 8 Kills on his way to chalking up
10 points.
Antigua/Barbuda only have themselves to blame. After winning
the first set they found it difficult to close down the
SVG’s offense but at the same team committed far too many
errors. The scoreboard showed 48 errors (including 7
rotational faults) contributed to the SVG scoreboard. They
in turn benefitted from 37. By the time they had figured out
a way to mute the SVG attack in set # 4 they were able to
draw level and get to set point before SVG. Ironically it
was two unforced errors that led to their final demise. At
that point several players broke down and cried.
For Antigua/Barbuda Captain Tejani Harvey (middle blocker)
carried out the main attack with 16 points (12 spikes and 4
blocks) while he was supported by Outside Hitter - Miguel
Bourne who had 11 points which included 8 Spikes.
Coach Vance Andrews pointed to his outside hitters as one of
the keys to victory.
“After a bad start we took some time to get into an
attacking rhythm. I must compliment my setter who was key to
getting the Outside Hitters and the attack going. They too
ought to be complimented as they scored when we really
needed it. The crowd was not a factor really as we were able
to ignore them and play above the noise”, he said.
Coach Olsen Joseph was down hearted “I think my players
cried as they realize now that we could have won had they
stuck more rigorously to the plan. We made some
adjustments and it worked for a while but I must
compliment St. Vincent as they maintained the composure and
executed a very good game overall’, he reported.
The result meant that St. Vincent and the Grenadines will
face St. Lucia for the championship while Antigua/Barbuda
face St. Kitts/Nevis for 3rd place.
