St. Lucia reigns again in ECVA junior competition

ST JOHNS, Antigua,  September 1, 2019 - St. Lucia’s male U 21 team repeated the feat their female counterparts did one week ago by winning the ECVA Junior Male tournament. This was achieved when they defeated St. Vincent and the Grenadines in an epic battle for supremacy which St. Lucia won 3-2 (25-22, 25 -21, 23-25, 19-25 and 15-9). The match lived up to the predictable expectations of being very competitive and close.

Noah Gaspard (opposite) was the stand out player for the winners as he had a game high 22 points. Noah is left handed and St. Vincent and the Grenadines had problems in figuring out his mode of attack. Noah was aided by outside hitter Joshua Florent who was also rampant at the net knocking down 18 spikes in his overall tally of 19. Further assistance came in the form of 13 points Fabio Lamontagne an outside Hitter.

Team SVG also had a varied attack leading with outside hitter Kyle Liverpool with 18 points. Setter and Captain Jamaar Cropper along with Enrico Louraine combined for 25 points but all in a losing cause.

No one team dominated the team scoresheet. St. Lucia led in spikes 50 to 43 but St. Vincent and the Grenadines took the edge in blocks 8 to 7 and also service points 8 to 5.

By the time the coaches were interviewed Coach Verdant’s heart was still racing from the tension of the game. “For the first time in my coaching career that I felt like I would have suffered a heart attack. From the onset of the third set I was at a loss and wondering what was going on, the hits were not going down the sets were double playing almost everything was going wrong. Fortunately for me the setter got it going and our offence was successful once again and I am very happy for that”, he chimed

Captain Remy Kernel of St. Lucia. “To be honest I was a little bit scared when I realized that we were letting the game go especially in the 3 and 4^th sets. So I called in my team and really urged them to give it their all, it was real emotional and amazing win, even now I am fighting back tears of joy”, he admitted.

Captain Jamaar Cropper of Team SVG was in tears sobbing uncontrollable and could not be interviewed.

Coach Vance Andrews gave his version of the game. “We really started terrible. Our passing was under par and hence we could not get the ball up to our hitters. That we rectified in the 3 and 4 set but our guys seemed to have lost mental focus for a moment in the 5^th set and by the time we readjusted St. Lucia was on set point. The guys are really down because they felt as if they really could have won that match hence most of them are in tears”, he reported.

Earlier on the night hosts Antigua/ Barbuda consoled themselves with the Bronze Medal after defeating St. Kitts/Nevis in straight sets –(25 -14,  25 -10, 25- 12).

Hence the final positions are as follows: 1. St. Lucia 2. St. Vincent and the Grenadines 3. Antigua/Barbuda 4. St. Kitts Nevis.