St. Vincent and the Grenadine edges St. Lucia in a 5 set thriller

LA BORIE, Grenada, November 3,   2018 – St. Vincent and the Grenadines came from 2 sets down to overturn and upset St. Lucia in a thrilling 5 set match (18-25,13-25, 25-13,  25-16 and 15-10). It was the first semifinal of the ECVA Men’s championship and with that victory St. Vincent and the Grenadines booked a berth in the finals for Sunday 4^th November.

The match could be considered as a tale of two halves as the first half of the game belonged to St. Lucia. Then from the onset of the third set there was a completed turn around. Everything began working well for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and they picked up a momentum that could not be stopped.

Captain Daryl Franklyn led from in front with a game high 20 points made up of 15 spikes and 4 blocks. His sidekick was Asmond Franklyn an outside hitter with 19 points.

On the losing side Joseph Clercent topped his teammates with 16 points. On the team scoresheet spikes and serves were tied at 39 and 9 respectively while St. Vincent enjoyed a huge advantage in blocks 9 to 1.

Terry Verdant coach of St. Lucia pointed to that factor to account for his team loss. “We stopped blocking and you realize that since we stopped being effective at the net we gave the opponents an attacking rhythm. I am so upset with these basic errors that I don’t know what else to say” he complained.

 St. Vincent and the Grenadines: “I believe that this game had a lot to do with determination and belief. The guys had a very deep desire to win and despite going down 2-0 had the mindset that the game would go to five. They gave it their all especially in the 3^rd set and from then on it was no stopping them.

I am so happy right now and the team is brimming with confidence so much so that whoever meets us in the finals it will be trouble for them,“ he stated.

St. Luci who was joint defending champs will now have to play to earn some pride in the bronze medal decider.