Martinique remain perfect to stay in contention

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Thursday July 27, 2017 - Martinique strengthened their play as time passed to overpower French-speaking Caribbean neighbours Guadeloupe 3-0 in their Round Two International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Championship Qualifier on Thursday.

Led by Lican Ludmila’s 16 points, all kills, Martinique battled hard to carve out a close 25-23 win in the opening set. However, they kept distancing themselves to take the following sets 25-19, 25-13 to wrap up an easy win.

Victory placed Martinique in the joint leadership position in Group D after winning both their matches and their battle tonight could prove decisive in the battle to advance to Round Three of the FIVB World Qualifiers.

Two teams will advance from this tournament, which is also the Caribbean Zonal Voleyball Association (CAZOVA) Women’s Championship. Trinidad and Tobago, the defending champions, have already secured one of the spots.

The other spot will go to the highest ranked team next to Trinidad and Tobago in the CAZOVA Championship. The Trinidadians are playing in Group E and likely to top their zone.

With the zone winners avoiding each other in the semi-finals, the path to securing the next highest rank would be clearer and Martinique ensured that they remained in contention.

Noemie Beltant, with 10 kills in 12 points and Stephanie Trefle, who banged home seven points, also contributed well for Martinique, whose 75 points from 199 tries gave them significantly more winners in Thursday’s game.

Guadeloupe, on the other hand, were only able to conjure 165 opportunities and ended up scoring one-third, 55. Leslie Figere-Turiaf stuffed five kills in nine points and Amanda Mauricette had four kills in six points to lead the scoring for Guadeloupe, whose second loss puts them out of contention for a semi-final spot.

Errors were marginal, with Martinique committing 27 and Guadeloupe 29.