St. Martin perseveres in 5 set battle over Antigua & Barbuda

ST JOHNS, Antigua, August 17, 2018 – St. Martin silenced a small but noisy home crowd when they defeated Antigua/Barbuda in an absorbing 5 set match 27-25, 19-25, 18-25, 25-14 and 15-6.

This was match #7 of the ECVA Senior Women Championship that  took 2 hours and 6 minutes and at the end  it left the home fans feeling hurt and debating the “what ifs” long after the game.

 It was the second time in two nights that Antigua was involved in a 5 set match but they got the better of St. Kitts/Nevis the first time around.

Coach Dan Girleanu was clearly disappointed at the result especially after coming from 1 game down to lead at 2-1 with an opportunity to close at 3-1.

“It was back to back matches against two tough teams and even tonight it was more difficult as St. Martin’s had a very good all round team. It appears that we not physically conditioned enough to play these physically demanding games. We played about 2 or 3 games wonderfully where everything was working well – the communication, concentration and team spirit then fatigue set in and everything broke down. Meanwhile St. Martin was willing and ready to go all the way”, he surmised.

His opposite number –David Williams agreed with Girleanu’s assessment. “It was a real tight battle and I am particularly pleased that my girls showed fighting spirit all the way to the end. They overcame some difficulties at times during the game but upon instructions went back to the basics, kept their composure and took to the very end”, he said

Jacqueline Hodge of St. Martin was consistently aggressive scoring 21 points from the Middle Blocker position. She knocked down 13 spikes, had 3 blocks and earned 5 aces on the night. Captain Valerie Damaseau provided assistance in the form of 11 points of her own.

On the other side, Mali Peters was hitting beautifully, she ended up topping the individual scoresheet with 25 points. Of those, 17 came from spikes, 3 were blocks and 5 came from the service line. Naheemah Wilson was the other high scorer with 11 points particularly in the early games.

The result meant that St. Martin topped group B and advance straight to the semifinal while Antigua Barbuda now wait to see who will be the third place in group A to face them in the quarterfinals