ROAD TOWN, Tortola: St. Kitts and Nevis are through to the semifinal of the ECVA U23 Male Championship, after defeating St. Lucia in four sets, in match 15,. The two teams have been perennial rivals and the pool B match produced anxious moments, exceptional defense and commendable offence. The final score was 26 28, 25 14, 25 23 and 25 18. St. Kitts and Nevis boast an unblemished record in their four matches.
Too scorer of the match was St. Kitts and Nevis’ captain Zendai Richards, with 25 points. Rio Jaden Victor led St. Lucia 2ith 11 points.
St. Lucia rallied from four points down late in the first set. They continued to apply pressure forcing St. Kitts and Nevis to make critical attacking errors that eventually led to the set win for St. Lucia.
St. Kitts and Nevis responded with a quick start to the second set, taking a 4 to 0 lead. St. Lucia produced the expected fight-back but they were never able to recover from the early blitz. A service ace ended a comfortable second set for St. Kitts and Nevis.
The third set was a nail-biter, with St. Lucia controlling the lead until the latter half of the set, when St. Kitts and Nevis capitalized on several errors. They were gifted the set when the St. Lucia player served into the net.
In the fourth set, St. Kitts and Nevis maintained the high energy from the previous set and forced some key substitutions from St. Lucia. They sensed victory and seized the opportunity to close out the match.
Captain Zendai Richards said his squad was beaming with pride because of the victory. He noted that they will continue to work on fine-tuning plays for upcoming matches.
St. Lucia’s captain Kernel Remy indicated that his team was unable to execute their game plan because of errant passes and other unforced errors. He expressed disappointment with the loss but said they were keen to work on executing better volleyball in their upcoming match against Antigua and Barbuda.
St. Kitts and Nevis await the results of upcoming matches to know their semifinal opponent. Semifinal matches are tomorrow morning, October 15.
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