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Antigua/Barbuda silences the home crowd with victory over Grenada

LA BORIE, Grenada, November 3,   2018 – Antigua/ Barbuda gave the noisy home fans a dose of hush when they defeated Grenada in straight sets (25-10, 31-29 and 25-23) in the second semifinal of the ECVA championship. The victory meant that Antigua Barbuda would meet St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the finals.

After coasting through the first set the Antigua Barbuda team was made to work hard as Grenada kept an uncomfortably close position. In fact there were several tied scores and lead changes that kept the fans on the edge of their seats in the second set that Antigua/Barbuda eventually won.

Unforced errors prove a huge part of Grenada’s demise particularly from the service line and more so at crucial times. They gave up a whopping 41 points in errors which equated to a little over 50% of Antigua’s points. The remaining came from 34 spikes, 5 blocks and 1 point from the service line. On the opposite side Grenada benefitted from only 21 errors from Antigua/Barbuda and had to earn points through 33 successful spikes, 4 blocks and 4 aces.

Adrian Constant led the attack for Antigua Barbuda with 9 points while there were contributions from Cairon Davis with 8 points and 7 each from Jamarie James and Itiro Jenkins. Grenada‘s leaders on the night were Nikel John with 12 points and Akim Andrew with 7.

Losing Coach Raphael Brathwaite pointed squarely to the team errors in the after game interview. “You can’t expect to commit so many errors in a semifinal game and win. The service errors hurt us especially as they not only gave them  points but also opportunities to attack. Our backcourt play was also below par and Antigua was able to capitalize on that”, he surmised.

Coach Carl Williams of Antigua felt that they were the better team on the night. “Our intention tonight was to get the crowd out of the game and we did just that in the first set. From then on we recognized that it was going to be a tough game but we made some adjustments after we realize what they were doing and that gave us the edge over them. I feel confident now that we will go all the way”, he stated.

The finals is therefore set for the evening of November 4th when Antigua Barbuda tries to cool Vincie Heat in the mountains of La Borie Grenada.

Prior to that Grenada and St. Lucia will play for bronze while St. Kitts Nevis and BVI will lock horns to determine 5th and 6th positions.