Guadeloupe stuns Honduras in a five-setter

POINTE-A - PITRE, Guadeloupe, June 16, 2013 - Urged on by a chanting signing home crowd Guadeloupe clawed their way back from 2 sets down to defeat group favourites Honduras in five sets (14- 25, 20-25, 25- 22, 25- 18 and 15 12 ) in the final match of the preliminary round of the World Championship Qualification Group N.

In a match that lasted just over two hours, home boy Marcelle Mickael was outstanding as the leading scorer with 18 points that included 13 spikes, 3 service aces and 2 defiant blocks at the center of the net. Saha Ludovic gave a solid support with 17 points consisting of 12 spikes and 3 service points.

Useful contributions came from Perrot Heindrick (13) and Alexandre Watson (10) who combined for 23 points

Evans Torres 15 points had the most for the losers who seemed invincible up until that point.

Captain Luis Membrano said that he was not too worried about the defeat. "We knew that Guadeloupe is a good team and we expected a great fight but the real thing is in the game this evening," he said.

Coach of the team  Ronny Martinez agreed with the captain. "We took time out to observe what they were doing and certainly the gold medal match will be different, we definitely will make some changes as this is the one that matters," he intimated.

Coach Oliver Ismael of Guadeloupe commented on similar tactics. "In the first game we looked intently and constantly made changes to the lineup, rotation and area of attack to the point where it began working in second game. Unfortunately we did not win that one but did more than enough to secure the last three", he reported.

Both teams are scheduled to meet again after the Dominica versus Grenada third place game.