St Martin defeated the British Virgin Islands in straight sets to at least walk away with a little pride left from the ECVA Junior Female Championship on Sunday July 26, 2015 in a tournament that did not offer much success for either team. Photo: Provided

St Martin controlled the scoring board in every category. They had a 17 -4 advantage in Spikes. Controlled the blocks 4-2 and gained 11 service points to their opponents 7. Photo: Provided

The match essentially determined the 5th position (St Martin) and the cellar position – (BVI) of the ECVA Junior Female Championship. Photo: Provided

The match essentially determined the 5^th position (St Martin) and the cellar position – (BVI) of the ECVA Junior Female Championship.

St Martin controlled the scoring board in every category. They had a 17 -4 advantage in Spikes, controlled the blocks 4-2, and gained 11 service points to their opponents' 7.

Thiona Williams of St Martin was the main stand out in terms of points scored as she recorded 12. She garnered points in all categories - 6 kills, 3 blocks and 3 aces. The rest of the team offered very little and team St Martin had to rely on points from opponents errors. On the losing side none of the players offered much in terms of individual points. The tally of opponents errors made up about 80% of the total points gained.

Sigh of relief

Nicolas Henrietta, coach of St Martin, showed signs of relief. “It was a very good game, both teams were evenly match and so they could have tried what they learnt. They prepared mentally last night and predetermined that they wanted to win at least a set and today they won the entire game,” he stated.

Hope for the BVI

BVI Coach, Willis Potter showed hope in the face of a winless tournament. “The players have grown to love the game and learnt a lot from this tournament. I loved the energy displayed in this game. With a much smaller crowd they felt more comfortable and confident and were able to play at their best,” he said.

St Vincent & the Grenadines new Men’s Champions

Meanwhile, in the U18 Men’s Championship, wild celebrations broke out among players, coaches and a handful of supporters when St Vincent and the Grenadines secured the last point in a four-set victory (20-25, 25-11, 25 -17 and 25-23) over the defending champs St Lucia. St Vincent had to show real fortitude to comeback from a set down with the momentum going St Lucia’s. 

When the dust settled after the ECVA Junior Male and Female Championship, it was St Vincent and the Grenadines who gathered most of the individual awards in the Male Championship while St Martin copped the most in the Female category. 

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ronaldo Franklyn, with an overall total of 48 points, won the MVP award by the slimmest of margins- 1 point over his countryman Marcus Thomas (middle blocker) who had 47. Added to that, he was best among the spikers with 41 points and topped off is trophy cabinet with the award for the Best Opposite Hitter.

St Lucia won two awards. Alexander Augier won the best setter award and Anton Richards was easily the best blocker of the tournament.

Grenada also won two awards; Jayvon Gilbert with a match average of almost three digs was the Best Digger of the tournament and Jernel John was the Best Server.

St Martin’s single award went to Opposite Hitter Shiovanni Levenston with 44 points.

St Vincent and the Grenadines took the last two awards as well - The Best Libero in Jad Martin who had a success rate of 52% while Delshun Welcome, with a 60% efficiency rate, was a distant winner in the Receivers category.

Female C/ship awards

In the female championship, Bedelya Hunt of St Martin left everybody in her wake as she dominated several categories. She was the top scorer with 35 points and adjudged the best Outside Hitter as well as Best Spiker. Added to that, with a total of 20 aces, she was also the Best Server. Consequently, it was a real simple task to determine that she indeed was the Female MVP.

St Martin took two more awards of the possible ten to account for more than 50 % of the trophies awarded. Amandha Sylves edged Thiona Williams (SVG) to be the best Blocker.

St Lucia copped three individual awards; Lovelle Auguste won two; the Best Digger and Best Libero while Skye Mondesir Faucher was far and away the Best Setter.

The other award went to Shemel Browne of St Vincent and the Grenadines – Best Receiver.