St Lucia blank St Martin 3-0 to start Group D 

GROS ISLET, St Lucia,   August 12, 2017 : St Lucia conjured up a good all round effort to blank St Martin 3-0   ( 25-18, 25-21, 25-21) in men’s Group D play of the NORCECA Zone of the FIVB  World Championships Qualifiers  round for teams in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA),  at the Beausejour Indoor facility.

In muscling their way to the dominating effort, St Lucia, led by Outside Hitter- Joseph Clercent scored 19 points, with Middle Blocker- Tevin St Jean, tallying 18. St Martin’s best scorer was Opposite Hitter- Rotilio Richardson with 9 points, as no one reached the double figure mark.

St Lucia was also efficient in Attacks, winning 41-19; Blocks 7-4 and Service Aces 6-3. St Martin though committed 21 errors as against St Lucia’s 33.

 In the non- scoring brackets, St Lucia was better at receptions, 29-25 and sets 45-18.

St Lucia’s captain- Servin Mongroo, in assessing his team’s performance in the opening match related, “It was not a hard match for us… We started off a little slowly, especially with our passing … It was our first game so it was just the breaking of the ice”.

“We had some good power serves and had various options in our attacks… With the first match out of the way, one can expect a better St Lucia team as we would be more relaxed”, Mongo said.

Meanwhile, both the St Martin’s head coach- Thierry Stephen and captain – Paul Qu Ellery are undaunted with the defeat.

According to Qu Ellery, “We lost and we have to bounce back from that lost … We can’t stay on the lost we just have to do better in the next two games”.

In his analysis, Stephen concurred, “We did not play our best …We have better Volleyball in us to play”.

The head coach reflecting on the outcome said, “We came in lacking a bit of mental preparedness because we were expecting a higher level from St Lucia”.

Stephen said that they were deficient on the blocks and were not finishing the attacks when created.

Match two features St Maarten versus Anguilla.