St Lucia silences Antigua to take Gold

ST. JOHN’s, Antigua and Barbuda, August 25, 2019 -  St Lucia silenced the vocal home support from the near packed arena at the YMCA Sporting Complex, and stopped Antigua and Barbuda, and took gold in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Under-20 Females Volleyball Tournament.

Avenging an earlier 3-2 at the hands of Antigua and Barbuda in the preliminary round, St Lucia did not allow for any comeback this time around, to win the championship match in fine style,  3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-17).

Outside Hitter and Captain- Amalia Louis was St Lucia’s top scorer with 9 points, while her opposite number- Nashea Browne had 11 points, to be Antigua and Barbuda’s lead scorer.

St Lucia outdid Antigua and Barbuda in Serves 8-6, as well as made the fewer errors. St Lucia committed 32 errors, as opposed to Antigua and Barbuda’s 52.

An elated St Lucia Head Coach- Terry Verdant thus confirmed his projections that his team would have champed the title.

“As I said earlier, we came here to win, and we did just that”, Verdant re-affirmed.

He said that focus of Volleyball in his homeland is on the youths and winning the tournament, is an impetus for building on that development programme.

Amalia Louis, St Lucia’s Captain was similarly excited with her team’s triumph over Antigua and Barbuda.

She specifically noted that they were bracing for the expected home support.

“We were prepared for the expected cheers for the home team, but we used it as a motivator… We did not let the crowd get to us, instead we went along with them, keeping our focus, and we came away victorious”, Louis said with a broad smile.

 Meanwhile, accepting the defeat manfully, was Antigua and Barbuda’s Head Coach- Rixon Joseph.

He assessed that the St Lucians wanted the title more than his team.

Despite the defeat in the final, Joseph in consolation said, “We lost the match, but my girls really fought and coming in second, is still a good achievement”.

St Lucia finished the tournament with four wins and a solitary loss, while Antigua and Barbuda had three wins and two losses.