Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda start Pool A with wins

ST JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda, October 23, 2024:  Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda ticked the boxes sufficiently, thus earned wins in Pool A of the 2024 Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Senior Men’s Championship here at the YMCA Sports Complex.

Grenada had a 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 26-24) win over a shorthand Bermuda, while Antigua and Barbuda strode to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-21) triumph over St Eustacius.

Before taking charge of the match, Grenada took time to get their passes together, but found their mojo as the match wore on.

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda had it all their way as St Eustacius offered little answer to their relentless spiking from different zones on the court.

Assessing their teams’ first outing in the championships, here are the comments from the Head Coaches and Captain.

Grenada’s Captain- Darron Oxford: “It was a good performance altogether, but there are a couple key aspects of the game that we need to focus on moving on in the tournament, which are our first pass and blocking at the net”.

Oxford revealed that with the new coach, who has implemented a new system, where they have a large squad to cater for the compact nature of the championships.

Bermuda’s Head Coach – Michael Smith: “We tried to play as technical a game as possible… We are really working on the fundamentals. We have a really young team, and these guys played really well… We are going to try to play technically sound throughout the tournament and hopefully come up with some wins”.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Head Coach- Karl Williams: “We have been practicing for a while, running certain plays and executing them and I am happy to see those plans executed tonight”.

Williams said that despite the 3-0 win, they are going to look critically at the match and do further evaluation for their next match.

St Eustacius’ Head Coach- Patricio Bridgewater: “I tip my hat to them (Antigua and Barbuda) … They took over the whole thing, they played a beautiful game. I think (though) that the team (St Eustacius) can do better than this”.

Bridgewater cited fatigue and the presence of one setter at his disposal, proving a deficiency.

The next Pool A match features Grenada versus the British Virgin Islands.