Antigua & Barbuda blows past French St. Martin

ST JOHNS, Antigua, December 4, 2014 - A small but rowdy home crowd stomped the floor and pounded the chairs as home team Antigua/Barbuda romped French St. Martin in straight sets (25-18, 25-11 and 25 -23)  in the curtains game of Day 1  of the East Caribbean Volleyball Association Senior Men Championship.

Collin Thomas delighted the home fans by scoring 12 of his 18 spike attempts and added two service aces to be the highest scorer of the game.

For team St. Marten their woeful performance was reflected on the score sheet as no one got into double figures on the card. Paul Quellery with 6 points was the leading scorer on the losing side.

Team Antigua/Barbuda outscored French St. Martin in all scoring categories; 27 – 14 in Spikes, 9-5 in blocks and 3 -1 in service points.

Antigua next plays St. Vincent in group B action on Friday 5^th December.

The victory gave the Antigua/Barbuda coach Fitzroy Benjamin cautious optimism. “Our attack was outstanding tonight and the service gave us added momentum but we still have some short falls with the passing and in the back court”, he hinted. He also accepted that the victory was easier than expected. “Surprisingly our opponents made a lot of unforced errors and for that we were grateful”, he beamed.

Coach of French St. Martin –Thierry Stephen was adamant that his team did not stick to the game plan. “This was all about the lack of execution of the game plan and by the time we regrouped it was too late! We know Antigua, we know what they are capable of but we just did not implement our plan”, he complained.