French St Martin proved the class of the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Under-16 Girls Championships, beating Antigua-Barbuda 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-17 19-17) in a thriller at Saint Lucia's Beausejour Gymnasium on Sunday night. The French girls emulated their male counterparts by completing the tournament without dropping a game.
Antigua-Barbuda had advanced to the title game by beating the host team on Sunday morning. Saint Lucia had an uneven tournament, losing 1-3 to neighbours St Vincent & the Grenadines on Friday, then playing twice on Saturday, winning in five sets over Antigua-Barbuda and then taking the eventual champions to five sets. They then avenged their earlier loss to SVG in the third-place playoff.
Coach of the Saint Lucia team, Luis Oviedo was philosophical about his charges, opining that the girls are young in the game and the experience will serve them well. "The young girls need to be more consistent and eliminate their errors and they could be tough to beat," he said. "But I must compliment all the teams here; they have players with good potential who if they continue in the game ECVA will have great players in years to come."
Naturally, French St Martin dominated the awards. Their captain, Louisnia Maccow, was adjudged Best Scorer, Best Spiker and Best Digger, and of course Most Valuable Player. Fleurimeme Cassamojor was named Best Setter. Saint Lucia got two awards, through Best Receiver, captain Jedda Alcee and Best Libero, Lovelle Auguste. Antigua-Barbuda's Natasha Richardson was Best Server, and Italia Caesar of St Vincent & the Grandines came away with the Best Blocker trophy.
This is the first time ECVA is having a tournament at this level.
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