Dominica edges Dutch St. Marteen in four sets

ST JOHNS, Antigua, December 5, 2014 - Dominica persevered over Dutch St. Maarten in a close encounter that ended with Dominica winning 3-1 (25-23, 25-27, 25-21 and 25-22) in match #3 of the East Caribbean Volleyball Association Senior Men Championship.

After losing their opening game to St. Lucia on opening night Dominica had to improve if they were to keep their hopes alive of a rematch with St. Lucia and they did just that.

Dutch St. Maarten had outside hitter Leonardo Jeffers leading the way with 16 points while Ellis Stephan and Lincoln Arrundell chipped in with 12 and 11 points respectively.

Dominica’s scoring was also spread around the court with four players getting into double figures. Lincoln Riviere playing the Outside Hitter position led all scorers with 19 points 17 of them coming from spikes. Middle Blocker Joseph Ronnel had 16, David Toussaint 13 and Julian Seraphin contributed 11.

Assistant coach of the Dominica team – (Jason Francis) opined that it was an overall improvement in their play. “We definitely stepped up our game by blocking better and doing an excellent job on floor defense and I think that is what gave us the edge. We have not yet play our best game but we are growing in confidence”, he noted.

The score sheet supported his views as scoring from spikes for both teams were dead even at 54 and the service points had a very slight advantage to Dominica 5-4. The main difference was the blocking where Dominica led 15-10.

Coach Raymond Jacobs of St. Martin was upbeat despite the loss. “I am not disappointed with the boys as they played a good offensive game. It is just that we faltered a bit in defense and their blocking turned out to be very good. However we will tighten up and come better in our second game”, he promised.