St. Lucia wards off Dominica to retain ECVA title

ST JOHNS, Antigua, December 7, 2014 - When the dust settled, St. Lucia successfully defended their title as they came from a set down to defeat Dominica 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-23 and 25-17) in the finals of the ECVA Senior Men Championship.

It was another case of “Lucia Pressure” as they won all the categories of scoring skills. In spikes they led 53 to 40, in the blocking department it was 11 to 6 and 10 to 4 in serves.

Joseph Clercent who was later adjudged tournament MVP had a herculean effort, recording the highest individual points in a game - 30. This game high score was made up of 28 kills, 1 ace and 1 block. Opposite Augustin Faulkner contributed 19 and Middle Blocker Tevin St. Jean chipped in with 16.

On the losing side, Dominica had three players in double figures. Outside Hitter Lincoln Riviere led the way with 19 points made up of 17 kills, 1 ace and 1 block. David Toussaint also an Outside Hitter and Rookie Middle Blocker Florent Yahn both scored 10 points each.

St. Lucia’s Captain - Joseph Clercent was beside himself. “I feel ecstatic. I am extremely happy to have led this team to retaining the title. It is even more special because this is a very young team and it bodes well for the future of volleyball in St. Lucia” He stated.

Coach Kendell Charlery broke his usual quiet nature to crack a smile. “We started out a bit rusty but the guys demonstrated a real hunger for victory and executed our plans. Our service has always been a strong part of our and tonight we were able to use it as a weapon. It disrupted the opponents reception and created scoring opportunities for us”, he surmised.

The Dominicans were obviously a little down. Coach Jeffrey Edmond stated that things fell apart after the first set. We block poorly, passed miserably and tonight service performance was the worse of the entire tournament. Imagine 10 service errors in one game! Clearly this contributed to our demise”, he complained.

“It was a case of sloppy passing and poor service. We knew that Jo (Joseph Clercent ) would have a good game because he is a top player but we did not take care of business when we had the chance to. However, I would still like to commend our two Middle Blockers (Joseph Ronnel and Florent Yahn) who were playing for the first time in a tournament of this nature and did very well. I would also like to commend St. Lucia for a well-played tournament”, reported Ray Robinson Captain of Team Dominica.

The championship title gave St. Lucia a berth to play in the Intercontinental Competition in 2015 where they will tangle with the heavy weights of volleyball.