ST.JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC- St Lucia rebounded from a set-down and fended off a spirited-fight back from Antigua and Barbuda to be crowned champions of the U-23 Eastern Caribbean Volley Championships here on Sunday.
St.Lucia lost the first set by two points, stormed back to win the second also by two points, won the third, lost the fourth and recovered to capture the match winning fifth set by two points in a tense and keenly contested finals at the YMCA.
The St.Lucians silenced a boisterous home crowd to prevailed 28-26, 29-27,25-17, 25-15,15-13.
“Wow! What can I say? It was a hard fought victory. I’m elated with the win,” said head coach Kendell Charlery.
“Antigua gave us all we could handle. We showed a lot of composure and managed to pull it out”.
Antigua and Barbuda’s head coach, Colin Thomas blames the loss on mistakes that their opponents exploited.
“I thought that we came into the game quite prepared ready to bring the fight to St Lucia. They’re usually the championship team to beat,” said Thomas.
“We made some simple mistakes that St Lucia took advantage of as they should. The guys fought and stuck together as a team and brought back the game which went down to the wire”.
The Eastern Caribbean Under 23 title has earned St Lucia the right to compete in the Continental Championship slated for Mexico in September.
Meantime in the consolation match, Dominica defeated St Maarten in straight sets, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22, to finish third in the tournament.
Augustine Faulkner from St Lucia was adjudged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament while Best Scorer was Jamarie James from Antigua & Barbuda.
The Best Blocker award went to Shaquille Rombley from St Maarten, while best digger honours went to Shannon Botelho from Bermuda and best setter Corey Simas, also from Bermuda.