2006 Men’s World Championship – Trinidad and Tobago
St Lucia ready to take on hosts for second round ticket (FIVB)
05/26/2005
Port of Spain, Trinidad, May 26, 2005 – St. Lucia is on a
collision course with Trinidad & Tobago in the battle
for the only ticket available at the 2006 Men’s World
Championship first round tournament - Norceca Pool B,
following their convincing straight sets victory (25-22,
25-15, 25-17) over St. Kitts & Nevis on day three.
Friday’s other match saw Dominica collect their first
victory by beating Anguilla 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 22-25,
33-31).
St Lucia (3-0) meets Trinidad & Tobago (2-0) on Saturday
night. A St. Lucia win would give them the one second
round spot available in this tournament, while victory
to Trinidad & Tobago would virtually assure them of the
place, with one match still to play.
The stronger attack of St. Lucia was the key in the
outcome against St. Kitts & Nevis particularly in the
second set where Jason Octave and Dionus Augustus
excelled with their killing abilities. The third set was
a one-sided story with Allister Sealy providing good
blocks with his outstanding reach to go with the spikes
of Octave and Kevin Jean.
Terry Verdant, coach of St. Lucia, said: “We are going
for the win against Trinidad & Tobago. We ended playing
very well in the last two sets against St. Kitts & Nevis
and although it is going to be a tough battle, I am
confident of our chances.”
After suffering their second straight sets defeat of the
tournament, St. Kitts & Nevis coach Glenn Quinlan is
asking for more passion from his side. “We are not close
to the intensity level needed to be competitive,” he
said. “I admit the errors but cannot accept the lack of
intensity and desire.”
Meanwhile, David Toussaint scored 28 points in
Dominica’s first win of the tournament. He led three
players into double figures with Clint Henderson and
Gregory Harry collecting 14 and 10 respectively. For
Anguilla, Sherwin Richardson scored 20 and Ian Connor
17.
Dominica won the first two sets with good blocking
combined with the lacklustre reception of Anguilla, who
came back to take the third thanks to a spike of James
Mathews, before claiming the fourth set and victory
courtesy of the leadership of captain Toussaint.
“I am disappointed because the players need to pay more
attention to the instructions of the coach,” Toussaint
said. “The spirit of the team was not there, so I’m not
happy with the win.”
David Culpepper, coach of Anguilla, said. “Our objective
is to participate and learn with each match. We had some
mental lapses at the end and anyway, the case is not how
you play but how you finish and the guys played hard and
never gave up.”
Day four of the five-day tournament sees Dominicana take
on St. Kitts & Nevis at 17:00 (local time) followed by
the big match between St Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago at
19:00. Anguilla has the bye.
