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PHILLIPSBURG, St. Maarten October 15, 2022.
Antigua and Barbuda booked a spot in semifinals
after a 2-hour quarterfinal victory 3-1 (25-20,
20-25, 25-23, 25-15) over Anguilla at the ECVA
senior female competition.
Anguilla threatened for a moment but then the
senior players for Antigua took over
particularly in the 4th and final set
and gave themselves a chance for redemption.
Antigua Barbuda came out on top in every scoring
category, in kills 32 to 23, in blocks 6 to 3
and in service points 11 to 5.
Middle Blocker Kwansia Carr of Antigua and
Barbuda led all scorers with 18 points made up
of 13 spikes and 5 blocks. She got help from
outside hitter Yuderka Martinez who had a
sterling service game clocking 8 Aces.
For the losing side, both outside hitters
captain Rikiesha Leveret and Janai Gumbs posted
10 points each.
The scoresheet supported what Coach Benjamin was
complaining about as more that 61 % of
Anguilla’s points came from errors. Anguilla on
the other hand committed just under 50%.
Semifinal action is slated for later this
evening with St. Maarten taking on BVI and
Antigua Barbuda versus St. Lucia.
Captain of the Antigua Barbuda team Ms Rosey
Simon felt despite the win their passing was
poor. “If you look at the stats you would see we
only have very few attacks. You have to get that
pass right in order to get a proper attack. Once
we get back that on track, we will be ok”, she
stated.
“We were confident that we would have defeated
Anguilla but the quality of play is still below
par. We can play better volleyball. We are still
committing simple errors but fortunately it was
a little less than our second and third game”,
stated Coach Fritzroy Benjamin of Antigua and
Barbuda.
His opposite number Omari Hamilton was visibly
upset. “We just had some technical difficulties
that we just could not do anything about at the
time. It affected our rhythm and our mental
focus and once the focus goes the game plan
goes. We now must wrap our heads around this,
reevaluate and come out and do our best in the
match for 5th place”, he stated.
Captain Leveret was upbeat despite the loss. “I
would first of all congratulate my girls and
urge them to be positive. We improved a lot in a
few areas, but we still have some things to work
on. In all we will encourage each other to get
better”, she said. |
