Grenada stuns St. Vincent and the Grenadines in straight sets win

LA BORIE, Grenada, November 2,   2018 – Grenada put a dent in the hopes of one of the pretournament favourites – St. Vincent and the Grenadines when they defeated them in straight sets (25- 23, 25-23 and 25 -22) in their final game of pool play.

Despite the 3-0 score line it was easily the most competitive and most exciting game of the tournament so far with the home crowd deeply involved screaming and waving flags at every Grenadian point.

At the end of 75 minutes only 7 points separated the teams and the individual and team performances reflected a similar closeness. Spikes were 31 to 30 in favour of Grenada. St. Vincent and the Grenadines held a 1 point advantage in blocks 6 to 5 while Grenada led 8 to 7 in serves.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines opposite hitter - Ronaldo Franklyn had the highest score on the night with 14 while Asmond Frankly playing outside hitter supported with 12. On the Grenadian side outside hitter - Jervin Noel led with 13 and middle blocker -Darren Oxford garnished that with 11 points of his own.

Losing Coach - Eardley Martin did not appear too perturbed. “As you can see they were all close games which could have gone either way especially the third one where we were leading until the end. This simply means that we have an extra game to play and we are prepared for it. We should meet the third place team from the other pool (St. Kitts/Nevis) and by that time we would have already sorted out the errors we saw here and get back on course”, he predicted.

The Grenadian Coach Raphael Brathwaite was smiling for the first time in the tournament. “I am really happy for the guys, they did not really surprise me as I know their capabilities but it is the first time that I have seen them express them so well. St. Vincent and Grenada usually have ding dong battles but this was our turn to dominate”, he reported.

Grenada like St. Lucia by virtue of winning the group goes on to the semifinals while St. Vincent and the Grenadines are expected to do battle with St. Kitts/Nevis in quarterfinal action.