St Maarten outduel St Martin in humdinger

GROS ISLET, St Lucia,   August 12, 2017 - Neither gave any favours nor asked for any, but St Maarten outlasted St Martin 3-1   (25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 30-28)  of the  men’s Group D 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.

St Maarten controlled the sets one and two, but St Martin showing some fight, rebounded to win set three, but St Maarten prevailed in set four, which could have gone either way.

Double figures contributors to St Maarten’s scoring were  Riegmar Valies – 17 points; Leonardo Jeffers -  16 points and Shaquille Rombley- 12 points.  On the scoring list for St Martin, there were only single digits, with the best being Yann Hodge and Rotilio Richardson, who both had 9 points each.

St Maarten outdid St Maarten in all departments, winning Attacks 48-42, Blocks 9-5 and Aces 4-3. St Maarten registered 40 errors, while St Martin conceded 42.

Both teams though shared the spoils on Receptions as they were level on 47 apiece.

A bubbly, St Maarten’s captain Leonardo Jeffers in summing the match intimated, “We had a point to prove because we met them in the final last year and beat them as it is a constantly rivalry between the two sides”.

Optimistic in his outlook, Jeffers thought by pinning down their second win, they had put themselves in a good position to play in the final

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Similarly overjoyed with the win was Head Coach – Dimitri Beauperthy who commented, “We played well in the first two sets, but had a huge mental lapse in the third but came back in the fourth, but it was a good mental challenge for the boys as St Martin pushed us, but we answered”.

Beauperthy added, “We came here with two goals, the first is to get to the final and the second is to win and we were half way there”.

St Martin’s Assistant Coach- Ashille Brooks thought his players became complacent whenever the momentum was with them.

“We were too comfortable whenever we took the lead, hence we did not capitalise on the opportunities when we were in front”, Brooks contended.

Brooks confessed that with the two losses, they would be hard pressed to make it to the final.