Martinique grabs all important Pool A third spot 

WILLEMSTED, CURACAO, December 2: Mayik Gros Desormeaux and Aymeric Christine scored 12 points apiece as Martinique secured the vital third spot in the 2014 NORCECA World Championship Men’s Group A qualifiers by beating Jamaica 3-0 at the International School of Curacao, on Sunday night.

Having tasted defeat against the “Reggae Spikers”, in four-sets in their round-robin meeting on Saturday night, the Martiniquans were determined not to suffer the same outcome and led by Gros Desormeaux and Christine came away with a convincing 25-18, 25-20, 25-18  victory over a very lackluster Jamaican squad in 59 minutes, the shortest match of the competition to date.

Edouard Lowinsky chipped in with nine points and captain David Lefaivre and Gregory Alpha, eight apiece for the winners who outscored their opponents in spikes, 42-30; and service aces, 3-2 but was overpowered on blocks, 7-10.

For Jamaica, captain Dellan Brown got 11, Ryck Webb ten, and Delford Morgan, nine, but on the night it was not near sufficient to get their team the desired result and a place in the second round of qualification to Poland, 2014.

A relaxed Lafaivre  commenting on his team’s win said he was happy that his players found a way to win, the important match after losing all three in the round-robin.

“After the match with Jamaica in the round-robin series we made some tactical changes for this match and it worked for us tonight.’

Brown said he was puzzled as to why his team failed to turn up for the crucial encounter.

“All tournament long I have been waiting for the guys to come to the table and show what they can really do, because we did not play to our full potential one bit in this competition, and sadly for us we did not bring it tonight.’

He added, “As captain of the team it’s my responsibility to know what is wrong but I really can’t say that I do because I know these guys can play much better than they did.”

 Martinique’s coach Erialc Eddy was quick to note that in his last post-match press conference he said his team will come out on top against Jamaica and tonight he proved himself correct.

“We knew how we had to prepare for Jamaica after losing our first meeting and the guys executed the game plan well.”

Steve Davis, coach of the losing Jamaicans like Brown said he was lost for words as to why the team played as it did.

“At the same time us losing the match comes as a wake-up call to our coaching staff, the players and the federation in terms of how we do things with regards to getting teams prepared for international competitions.”

“As coach of the team I also need to figure out how to get the best out of my players. Dellan (Brown) said the team is well coach, but maybe I am doing something wrong because we are not getting the results that I will like to see,” added Davis.

With the win, Martinique as A-3 qualifiers advanced to the second round  Group M series which also includes, Suriname (Group E winners), Guatemala (Group H winners) and Anguilla (Group D third placed finishers).

In Sunday’s gold medal match host country Curacao came up against Bahamas, with the hope of avenging a round-robin loss as well.

Both teams have already advance to the second round of qualifiers which begin next year.

However, the winner A-1 will join French St Martin (Group D runner-up), Barbados (Group E runner-up) and Nicaragua (Group H third placed finisher) in their second round Pool I qualifiers while the Group A runner-up will tackle Antigua & Barbuda (Group D winner), Costa Rica (Group H runner-up) and Aruba (Group E third placed finisher) in their second round Pool L qualifiers.