Saint Lucia are ECVA – Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association U23 Women’s Champions! They beat Sint Maarten in straight sets to secure the title on Sunday night.
Team Saint Lucia added another Volleyball title to their trophy cabinet, by taking gold in the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Under-23 Women’s Championships, at the Massacre Indoor Facility, in Roseau, Dominica.
Saint Lucia showed their prowess and dominance in the sport in the region, with a commanding 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-8) over Sint Maarten.
To underscore the Saint Lucians command of the championships, they won all six matches; four in the preliminaries and two in the play offs, to finish perfect, and the lone unbeaten unit in the nine team championships.
However, Saint Lucia’s Head Coach – Stuart Albert considered the victory to be a normal programming.
“We expected Sint Maarten to do their homework on us, but they didn’t which made it a bit easier for us”, Albert said.
The Head Coach gave his charges an “A” for their performance in the championships, but moreover, feels that most of them are ready for transition to the senior Saint Lucia team.
According to Albert: “I am satisfied that this team can move on and play at a higher senior level and provide that continuity to Saint Lucia’s Volleyball”.
Although defeated, Sint Maarten’s Head Coach- Leonardo Romeo was satisfied that his team’s efforts would have propelled the sport in his country.
“Sint Maarten Volleyball on a whole, this has opened up the doors… so most younger persons now know what can come out of this”, Romeo advanced.
“The push going forward is that Sint Maarten wants to be in every final of ECVA, hence, from now we will endeavour to participate in all ECVA championships at all levels”, Romeo proposed.
Final standings: 1- Saint Lucia, 2- Sint Maarten, 3- British Virgin Islands, 4- Dominica, 5- Grenada, 6- St Vincent and the Grenadines, 7- Antigua and Barbuda, 8- Anguilla, and 9- Saba.
In the lead up to the finals, Team Saint Lucia took three straight sets over the British Virgin Islands (BVI), to reach the ECVA Under-23 Women’s Championships, at the Massacre Indoor Facility, in Roseau, Dominica.
A polished performance saw Saint Lucia trumping 25-17, 25-21, 25-17, to register their fifth successive win.
In summing up his team’s win in the semi-final, Saint Lucia’s Head Coach Albert apportioned some personnel “changes”, as being the catalyst for a better showing.
“We made some changes and (to) some degree these are working and we are going to maintain them into the finals”, Albert expressed.
Confident of lifting the title, irrespective of their opponents in the final, Albert projected, “We have the momentum and I don’t expect it to change in the final”.
Sharing similar sentiments of a victory in the gold medal match was team Captain- Amalia Louis, who said: “I am a confident player and once I am confident, the other players will feed off me, and we play as one”.
In the other semi-final, Sint Maarten beat Dominica 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-22).
