St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia win Volleyball Openers
Story & Photo by Anthony De Beauville

Winning a set against any defending champion in a Volleyball Championship could prove as difficult as getting home in the dark wee hours of the morning under adverse weather conditions.
Well that may be true as St.Kitts and Nevis proved it can be done on the opening night of the 2008 OECS Female Volleyball Championships, but what can only be described as a shocker St.Kitts and Nevis romping to their first ever victory in straight-sets at the newly built Beausejour Indoor Facility on Wednesday night with a 25-9, 25-16 and 25-17 over the 2006 defending Champions Dominica in straight sets. The St. Kitts and Nevis team steamrolled Dominica in a game which coach Staabroy Collins gave all of his players some court time to get the job done.
St. Kitts and Nevis # 7 served out with class, while their middle players spiked out to ensure Dominica’s agony continued on center court. Nothing seemed to be going right for the Dominicans on the night as St. Kitts and Nevis powered their way throughout the entire encounter as they were too hot to handle on center court.
Taking the well deserved time outs to refocus on their strategy the Dominican coach Albert Lovack still did not have any let up from the opposition as the onslaught continued and the girls from Sugar City maintained their focus and on the resumption quickly got back on track to finish up the job on hand.
The St.Kitts and Nevis players, concentrated heavily on placement across court likewise mixing some deft dinks with stunning spikes.

Meanwhile, in the second match on the evening home team St. Lucia with the crowd support behind them and under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Florian Combie and the Cuban Coach found the going a bit stiff versus Antigua and Barbuda on the night despite winning in three straight sets with scores of 25-15, 25-20 and 26-24.
The first and second sets was very keenly contested with the likes of # 12 Cindy Wilson, # 8 Captain - Sadia Baptiste # 7 Dania Hamilton, # 2 Sancha Isidore and # 9 Petal Epiphane leading the way for the St. Lucian’s , while # 10 and # 24 carried the charge for the Antiguans.
Going into the final set from my vantage point it was a thriller as the pendulum swung from team to team, but with some errors on the part of the St.Lucia team the Antiguans took a 5 point advantage for the first time in the encounter. With the patriotic crowd calling for the removal of # 11 Samantha Mann on the court surprisingly at that point she suddenly spun back to life with a beauty of a spike across court which by then won the approval of the crowd as they wanted nothing less than a set victory and to seal the game.
Well their wishes were not too far in coming as it was answered, with the score 23 -19, 24-20, 24-22, 24-23 and tied at 24-24 each it was anyone’s game at that point. With the nerves showing on the court from both sides the St.Lucia team nosed ahead by one to make it 24-25 and it was all left to Mann on her serve to do it right, and that she did, to give St. Lucia a fighting 24-26 come from behind set victory and to defeat the Antiguans 3-0.
At the end of it all the biggest cheer of the night which came from the supportive crowd who throughout the evening had re harmonized the national word with a bit of glitter. On the St.Lucia bench the Junior Volleyballer of the Year # 4 Emma Edgar along with Karleen Julien who was rested for the opening encounter against Antigua and Barbuda were both elated at the victory.