St. Lucia Douses French St. Martin to reach ECVA Finals

ST JOHNS, Antigua, December 6, 2014 - ECVA defending Champs  -St. Lucia turned back a solid French St. Martin effort defeating them in straight sets (31-29, 25-23 and 25-14) and in doing so reached the finals of the East Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Senior Men Championship.

This was easily French St. Maarten best effort of the tournament but they lost their main attacker to injury and lost momentum after that. That gave St. Lucia a chance to snatch the game and they needed no second invitation.

Despite leaving the court through injury midway in the second set Rotilio Richardson led team St. Martin with 11 points while Paul Quellery chipped in with 9.

Joseph Clercent led all scorers in the game as he racked up 26 kills and 1 block to end with 27 points. Opposite Augustin Faulkner had 9 kills and 4 aces to contribute to the winning cause.

On the team score sheet St. Lucia held the advantage with a score of 52 to 32 in Spikes. They also led the service category with a total of 6 aces to St. Martin’s one. However St. Martin got 7 blocks to St. Lucia’s 4.

“I think we had them shell shocked the way we came out and pushed them to their limits”, said Captain Paul Quellery of St. Martin. “It was just a few crucial mistakes on our part that gave them the victory. But overall I am satisfied that we gave it our best shot”, he concluded.

Coach Thierry Stephen of St. Martin also appeared pleased with the performance. “I must commend my guys at the effort they poured out tonight. All aspects of the game showed incremental improvement as we went along. I firmly believe that we will get better at handling situations like these and turn them into victories, so watch out for us next time”, he beamed.

Winning Coach Kendell Challery maintained his cool demeanor in explaining the keys to the victory. “We stuck to our game plan by blocking out their main attacker by stacking up on the outside and attacking down their middle. AS the results showed it worked and we came out victorious now looking forward to the finals”, he said.

The victory gave St. Lucia the right to defend their title. They now await the winner of the Dominica Antigua /Barbuda clash.