PHILLIPSBURG, St. Maarten October 13, 2022.- It took 2 hours and 26 minutes before BVI and Antigua Barbuda could be separated in the first 5 setter of the ECVA senior female tournament with victory for BVI (23-25, 28-26, 16-25, 25-19, 15-12).
The match swung like a pendulum with numerous ties and lead changes in all the games and the tension in the stadium was palpable. In the 5th and decisive set BVI jumped out to a six point lead but then Antigua & Barbuda roared back and took a slender lead. BVI broke the momentum and pick up one of their own and surged onto victory.
Middle blocker for BVI Shoranda Pickering proved to be a thorn in Antigua & Barbuda side as she picked up 6 kills, 6 blocks and 6 aces on her way to gathering 26 points to lead the BVI.
Nyota Peters, middle blocker on the other side carried the scoring responsibility for Antigua & Barbuda with a game high 33 points comprising 11 kills, 11 blocks and 11 Aces. She got assistance from Kwanisia Carr with 18 points. All that however was in vain.
Coach Fitzroy Benjamin of Antigua had a pensive look on his face when he gave this account “We had a lot of bad serves and a total loss of concentration when it mattered most and this resulted in a move away from the game plan. We will have to regroup and evaluate this game before we get ready for St. Lucia tomorrow”.
Captain Rosie Simon of Antigua agreed with her coach, “I am extremely disappointed I think we could have played better; we were confident coming into the game but as the coach said we had a poor service game, and we had a problem covering. We definitely have to regroup as the next game against St. Lucia is very important”.
Coach Stephen Payne was overjoyed, “I am extremely pleased with the way the girls performed tonight. Like I predicted yesterday we will defeat Antigua and we came out with the victory. There were times were service errors plagued us but that was fixed and the girls soldiered on. We will regroup once again and get ready for our next game”.
BVI next plays Statia while Antigua & Barbuda tangles with St. Lucia in a highly anticipated exciting match.