BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Federation’s team was crowned the champion of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association 2010 Championship in St. Lucia on Sunday (June 27) after a long and difficult road to the finals.
Team St. Kitts-Nevis began the tournament by thrashing St. Vincent and the Grenadines 3-0 on June 24, but was quickly set back in their next group match against Antigua and Barbuda, which St. Kitts-Nevis lost by the same margin.
“This match in particular, served as a wakeup call for us,” Coach Steadroy ‘Star’ Collins said following the loss. “We regrouped and decided we were not taking any team for granted because every team was there to win.”
The “wakeup call” showed in the squad’s next match as they defeated French St. Martin 3-1 despite suffering injuries during play. In the semi-final round, St. Kitts-Nevis faced their toughest match yet against tournament favorites St. Lucia.
St. Kitts-Nevis won a tense first set 25-23, but was badly beaten in the next two sets (25-15, 25-10) and appeared as if they were about to make their exit from the championship bracket. After a rousing pep talk from Collins to focus the team on a strong defense against the surging St. Lucians, team St. Kitts-Nevis bounced back to win the next two sets and the match (25-15, 15-11).
The final matchup between Dominica and St. Kitts-Nevis proved even more thrilling, as the Federation’s team once again went to five sets before securing the championship.
The first four sets were a dramatic back-and-forth between St. Kitts-Nevis and Dominica (25-13, 27-29, 25-19, 19-25), leaving the fifth as anyone’s guess as to who would be the victor.
St. Kitts-Nevis eventually edged their opponents 18-16 in the emotional final set that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Following the match, Brenda Allen of St. Kitts-Nevis was named as the tournament’s most valuable player.
In the consolation match for third place, St. Lucia was narrowly able to defeat Antigua and Barbuda in five sets (15-25, 25-12, 25-18, 12-25, 15-10).
Special thanks was paid to Digicel, MacPennies, American Airlines/American Eagle, Rum Barrel, Gregory “Chef” Austin, Kachi Armony, St. Kitts Cooperative Credit Union, Kajola Kristada, Harowe Servo Controls and Mau Pau for their corporate support of the team.
