Trinidad & Tobago Serves Tough, Defeats St. Lucia

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, USA, September 26, 2017 – Trinidad & Tobago used strong serving to defeat St. Lucia, 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 on Tuesday in the opening pool play match of the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Trinidad & Tobago led St. Lucia in kills (34-19) and aces (5-2) while the teams tied in blocks (6-6). Trinidad & Tobago scored on 30 errors by St. Lucia while committing 21.

Trinidad & Tobago was led by opposite Ryan Stewart, who had 10 points on seven kills, one block and two aces.

Trinidad & Tobago put together several strong serving runs to pull ahead in each set. Middle blocker Marc Honore was a particularly consistent server.

St. Lucia was led by outside hitter Joseph Clercent who scored 14 points on 11 kills, one block and two aces.

St. Lucia will face Canada on Wednesday while Trinidad & Tobago will have the day off.

Trinidad & Tobago Head Coach Sean Morrison: “It was a good match. For the guys, we didn’t play together as a team for the last four months. We have 40 guys overseas. This was our first game since June together. As I told them, each game is a building point for us to keep working.

“In our last tournament, our service was really bad, so during our preparation I made sure we focused on service, so the guys could be more consistent.”

Trinidad & Tobago Captain Ryan Stewart on what the team did well: “Today, coming back because we started out a little slow. Just focus and get point one by one and it added up and we ended up on top. We did well by committee. We block well and we attack well.”

St. Lucia Head Coach Terry Verdant: “It was a very easy match because we did not play our game at all… We need to work more on our defense and try to play harder.”

St. Lucia Captain Mongroo Servin: “Maybe it was nerves. We are a brand new team apart from me and Clercent. (Next match) we want to enjoy the game more, play harder and learn something out of it.”