Dominica rebound to beat St Kitts and Nevis in five-setter

GROS ISLET, St Lucia, August 10, 2017 - After losing the first two  sets to St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica responded well to come out victors 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12) and  remained  in contention in the men’s Group E of the NORCECA Zone of World Championships Qualifiers second round at the Beausejour Indoor facility.

Crafting Dominica’s win were Middle Blockers – Yhan Florent who scored 23 points and Kershaskie John Lewis, who registered 13 points of his own.

For St Kitts and Nevis, Outside Hitter- Shawn Seabrooks had 20 points to his credit and St Clair Hodge another Outside Hitter, scored 16.

Dominica outdid St Kitts and Nevis in Attacks (60-48) and Blocks (9-2). Dominica was less faulty than St Kitts and Nevis, committing 33 errors to their 51.

In the non-scoring skills, Dominica was excellent in Sets, 18-16 and Reception, 70-57.  

A relieved captain of the Dominica team- Ray Robinson spoke of having to “struggle”, to overcome their opponents.

“ We had to dig deep to get this second win … It took us a lot of hard work, but we have put ourselves with a chance to get into the finals… We just have to wait on the results between St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda”, Robinson stated.

In further assessing his team’s play, Robinson thumbed a tactical  change in the line-up  between rookie Kershaskie John Lewis and Yhan Florent, which changed their fortunes. 

“That switch made a huge difference as John Lewis sparked the comeback as the team began passing better and we began serving better”, Robinson related.

The loss by St Kitts and Nevis saw them winless in their three matches, hence they will play in the consolation places in the four –team group.

St Vincent and the Grenadines next meets Antigua and Barbuda in match six, the final encounter in the preliminary round.