Gregorius leads Curacao women to first win in Pool C

ST CROIX, Virgin Islands, May 26, 2012-Geraldine Gregorius had a team and tournament-high 14 points as Curacao secured its first win after two matches in the 2014 FIVB World Championship Qualification Women's Pool C Qualifiers with a straight sets win (25-19, 25-21, 25-21) over Martinique in the first match of the opening day's second session at the Ronald "Ranche" Charles Basketball Arena.

Team captain Christine Anthony added ten while Neysa Hooi with eight and Sonela Philips with six also contributed in the win for Curacao which stayed in contention to top the round-robin four-team group ahead of the playoffs.

Stephanie Trefele led Martinique which fell to a 0-2 record with ten points. Tania Villeronce got six and the trio of Caroline Joseph-Rose, Laurianne Gwed and Melissa Cyrilla, five each in the loss.

Speaking after the match, Christine Anthony, Curacao's captain said her team had an entirely opposite showing than from its first match of the tournament.

Anthony said: 'We played exactly the opposite to how we played against the US Virgin Islands. We showed a lot more of determination, had great defence and took our chances well which puts in a good position for a top two finish and a chance to play for the gold medal.”

Curacao assistant coach Raymond Martha speaking on behalf of Coach Henry Delfina added: "To be honest when we saw Martinique played against Haiti earlier on in the day we felt it would have been an easy win for us this afternoon. However, credit to Martinique they came out and played a very good match."

With regards to his own team's performance Martha said his team is playing without its regular setter who got injured just before the team left home for the tournament and Ghislaine St Hilaire, who has never played the setter spot before, step in and had a great game.

Commenting on her team's second loss in as many matches Martinique captain Soraya Yazza said:  "Compared to our first match against Haiti, our performance against Curacao was much better this after and despite the loss I am very satisfied. We enjoyed ourselves and the game much more tonight and it is very important that we continue that positive approach."

Martinique coach Mickael Tramis was also satisfied despite the defeat as he has seen some improvements. "It was a good match and congrats to Curacao. They played a very good game showed great defence and a lot of fighting spirit," noted Tramis. "Looking at our two matches so far we have surely shown improvement so we are satisfied because we are progressing and hopefully our best is yet to come.”