Martinique sweeps St Vincent

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado USA (Sept. 29, 2017) – Martinique blanked St. Vincent & the Grenadines 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 on Friday during the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship Classification 5-10 round in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Martinique swept St. Vincent & the Grenadines on Thursday to conclude Pool C.

Martinique was led by outside hitter Joann Breleur’s 17 points, which included eight aces. Outside hitter Rodrigue Larcher chipped in 11 points in the victory

Asmond Franklyn sparked St. Vincent & the Grenadines with 14 points.

Martinique held a 9-1 advantage in aces to keep St. Vincent & the Grenadines out of system. Martinique also held a 5-3 block margin and 38-28 in kills.

Martinique now advances to the Classification 5-8 match on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT against either of the two semifinal losers. St. Vincent & the Grenadines will finish its tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m. MT by playing the loser of tonight’s Guatemala-St. Lucia match.

The NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship is a qualification tournament into the 2018 FIVB World Championship. The top three teams in the 10-team field earn berths into the World Championship, while the top two teams in a second NORCECA qualifier held later this fall round out NORCECA’s five vacancies into the world event.

Martinique Coach Eddy Erialc: “We have had two consecutive victories and that is good. Now we will await the results of St. Lucia and Guatemala to find out who we play next. Over the course of the tournament we have improved our reception and the players are more relaxed mentally.”

Martinique Captain David Lefaivre: “We analyzed our first match with St. Vincent and we knew what they did. We improved our reception, and that is why we won. We know it will be difficult, but we will play every match going forward and see what happens.”

St. Vincent & the Grenadines Coach Brian Burke: “One of the things that we improved on over yesterday’s game is the reception. It is still a major issue for us. Going forward, and most of our guys are learning. They need to be better passers and be motivated going back home to really work on that part of the game. Good receptions with all the attack combinations that we have been working on gets thrown out the door. Now we have to go back to the drawing board. The team is obviously young.”

St. Vincent & the Grenadines Captain Cluevvan Cumberbatch: “We have improved our reception. We have to work on our defense and blocking, and then we will be better off.”