PHILLIPSBURG, St. Maarten October 14, 2022.- St. Lucia remained in full control of their encounter with Antigua & Barbuda winning in straight sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-15), for an undefeated record at the ECVA Women’s Championship.
Despite some early leads by Antigua & Barbuda, St. Lucia appeared to be coasting for victory in every game and in doing so, ended pool play undefeated.
St. Lucia was led by outside hitter Kerin Neptune with 15 points (10 spikes and 4 service aces). Two other teammates had double figure scores in middle blocker Tyna William with 11 points made up of 6 spikes, 3 blocks and 2 aces, while outside hitter Amalia Louis had 10 points including 6 blocks and 3 aces.
Antigua Barbuda did not have anyone with double figures; Sharon Payne led with a total of 7 points.
The huge disparity in attack (St. Lucia 37 to Antigua 7) was a huge factor in determining the game. Other scores were close, but St. Lucia led in all categories 10 to 8 in serves and 6 to 5 in blocks.
The win meant that St. Lucia earned a bye to the semifinal while Antigua and Barbuda was relegated to the quarter final. These matches take place tomorrow Saturday 15th with the finals on Sunday 16.
Coach Kendall Challery of St. Lucia was upbeat. “I am finally seeing my team. Tonight, our service game made the big difference, we served very well and upset their attack. It seems as if my team has a tendency to drop their game according to who is in front of them. We know that Antigua Barbuda is an arch rival so our level of play increase in intensity.” He concluded.
Captain Cindy Wilson had a slightly different view. “Tonight, we brought the vibe as promised and we were able to play our game there was no pressure throughout”, she beamed.
Coach Benjamin from Antigua and Barbuda gave his own account. “Although we were more aggressive tonight we had some lapses and decided to do some switches. They did not quite work so it’s back to the drawing board for us,” he reported.
Rosemary Simon the captain of Antigua and Barbuda was not a happy camper. “I am disappointed, we have played St. Lucia many times with different results. However, we have a lot of new players so it was somewhat a testing process for us. We were neck and neck in the games, so it was not a case where they just steamrolled us”, she countered.
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