Nicaragua happy to grab third place

Marigot, St. Martin,  August 11, 2013 - Nicaragua ensured that they did not return home empty handed when they took care of St. Martin in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25 -21) while playing in the third place playoff game of the  FIVB Men World Cup Qualifier group I.

The defeat meant that St. Martin suffered the ignominy of going out of the tournament without winning a set, losing all four games in straight sets .

Team Nicaragua improved incrementally as the tournament progress to the extent that they expressed a wish to get a revenge game against Barbados since Barbados was the only team to beat them in straight sets.

On a team level Nicaragua  won the Spiking (36- 22) and  Service (7-3) categories  but St. Martin proved better at Blocks  with a 6-2 record.

Tito Valdivia 13 points (12 spikes) and Jonathan Tuckler 12 points (10 spikes) carried the brunt of the attack for the Central  Americans while Rotilio Richardson with 15 points (13 spikes and  2 blocks) was all alone fighting a losing battle  for St. Martin.

"I am very happy to see my players grow from game to game. As I said earlier we all came here to win and we fought hard. I am grateful for the effort but unfortunately we did not come out on top. We are however satisfied with the bronze, it will serve as a motivation for our next engagement in the future," surmised coach Lester Martinez of Nicaragua.

His opposite number Jean Luc Lezin was not down hearted. "I think that we gave a good account of ourselves particularly in the morning. This evening we were a bit flat made too many errors and with that combination it is impossible to win at this level," he said.