EDITOR’S PASS Its’ been a while since we released an issue of Volleytalk and we know we are way behind schedule, on behalf of the entire Team, I offer my heartfelt apologies. SLVA has just been extremely busy and thus unable to meet our planned publication date, yet be assured of our unwavering commitment to keeping you informed of our activities and plans and also documenting them. We hope you find Volleytalk informative as we strive to keep you in the loop.
The work of the Association is supported by many and we take this opportunity to once again thank, players, coaches, officials, volunteers, and of course institutions such as; the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, St. Lucia Olympic Committee, the St. Lucia National Lottery, WLBL, ECFH Group, LUCELEC, Tours N Travel and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just to name a few. To those who we have left out, do not feel offended as we will ensure all our partners get a mention in due course. “Keep Digging Volleyball” Brian Louisy President
St. Lucia came away with two individual accolades in that of;
Beach Volleyball Qualifier
Best Opposite - Jayda Hunte Best Middle Blocker – Nikita Greenidge Best Setter – Skye Mondesir Best Libero - Junanita Brown Best Server - Skye Mondesir
Best Opposite - Andre Marquis Jr Best Digger - Noah Didier
SLVA fielded teams in both the Male and
Carolina, Puerto Rico was the stage for the final
Female ECVA Youth Championships in Antigua as hosts of the 2014 ECVA Youth Volleyball Championships. At stake was one spot in each division to the NORCECA U-19 Boy’s Continental Championships in Tulsa, USA and the NORCECA U-18 Girl’s Continental Championship in Costa Rica.
round of qualification for the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics. The St. Lucia boys qualified for this round after placing third in the first round of qualification held October, 2013 in St. Lucia. Andre Marquis and Jervelle Jn Pierre were the duo who represented St. Lucia at the final qualifier, seeking to join the compatriots Skye Mondesir and Dala Noel, who had already qualified for Nanjing in the first round of qualification in 2013.
In the Boys category St. Lucia came up against French St. Martin and Bermuda in Pool B whilst St. Vincent, Grenada and host Antigua battled in Pool A. The Lucian boys faced French St. Martin in their match opener winning in four sets 3-1 (25-7, 25-15, 24-26, 25-12). Their final match in group play saw them in a five set battle with Bermuda winning 3-2 (25-12, 2225, 25-12, 20-25, 15-12). Finishing first in their pool the Lucian boys earn direct entry into the semifinals where they faced off against Antigua who finished second in their pool. They eventually defeated French St. Martin in the quarter finals to earn a spot in the semis.
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua, Barbados, USA, Dominica, Bahamas, St. Lucia, US Virgin Islands, Mexico and host Puerto Rico were the teams battling for the final NORCECA spot at the Olympics. The twelve teams competed in pool play with the top ranked in each pool going directly to the semifinals and the second and third spots vying for a semifinal spot in quarter final play.
This semifinal match went the distance, St. Lucia falling to the Antiguans in five sets 2-3 (15-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 17-19). St. Lucia then faced perennial rivals St. Vincent in bronze medal play. St. Lucia took the first set handily, 25-15 and fought to win the second, 26-24 then spiraled downward losing the next three sets 14-25, 8-25, 14-16, leaving them in fourth place. Antigua was the eventual Tournament Champions defeating Grenada 3-2 in the gold medal match and earning a spot at the 2014 NORCECA U-19 Boy’s Continental Championships in Tulsa, USA.
St. Lucia faced Bahamas and USA in Pool C losing both matches to the more experienced teams. Finishing last in their pool they faced pool B last place finishers, Barbados for 9-12 place losing to the Bajans in straight sets. Despite their final place finish in the tournament the young duo returned heads high and determined to improve and looking forward to their next challenge.
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Andre Marquis Jr (Attacking)
Most Valuable Player – Nikita Greenidge (Blocking)
In The Girls division St. Lucia faced St. Vincent, French St. Martin and host Antigua in round robin action. The Lucian girls finished on top of their group in the preliminary round playing undefeated against French St. Martin (3-1: 25-14, 25-16, 17-25, 25-9), St. Vincent (3-0: 25-23, 25-14, 25-14) and Antigua (3-0: 25-17, 25-5, 25-22). The Girls then defeated French St. Martin in the finals in straight sets 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 and qualified for the 2014 NORCECA U-18 Girl’s Continental Championship in Costa Rica. The girls earned several accolades from their championship play;
Team St. Lucia Celebrating
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Julian Bissette and Joseph Clercent continue to represent St. Lucia at the NORCECA Beach, this time in Nine teams took to the
Beasejour Indoor Practice Facility to compete in the third edition of the Commercial Volleyball League. The defending champions, Royal St. Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), Consolidated Foods Limited (CFL), East Caribbean Financial Holdings (ECFH), Water & Sewage Company (WASCO), Ministry of Education, Sandals St. Lucia and Ministry of Youth Development and Sports all returned to this years’ edition of the league along with new comers Club GAR and JQ Group of Companies. The league followed the usual group play format with quarter final, classification, semifinal and final stages. The drawing of lots was held at the Palm Haven Hotel put Club GAR, Ministry of Education, ECFH and JQ in Group A and WASCO, Ministry of Sports, Police, Sandals and CFL in Group B. In Group A, Club GAR, Ministry of Education and ECFH all lost one out of their three matches. Club GAR stood on top of the group standings edging out ECFH on points ratio. Ministry of Education finished third with JQ in last spot losing all three of their group play matches.
JQ defeated Ministry of Sports in a five set dual to sit in the seventh spot and WASCO won versus Ministry of Education to claim fifth. The semifinals were set with Club GAR versus Police and ECFH versus CFL. Police overcame Club GAR in four sets which CFL defeated ECFH in three to setup what was to be an exciting finals. The bronze medal game was a straight set victory for ECFH putting away Club GAR 25-12, 25-17, 25-20. CFL was at a disadvantage in the final, with their star player, Keson Edmund, arriving late, from Barbados. Police made easy work of CFL in the first set winning 25-11. Late in the second set the crowd roared at the arrival of Keson Edmund, who sparked fire in his team mates. The Police were just able to edge out a second set win 25-22. The third set was even more heated but Police held it together wining 25-20 to retain their title as Commercial Volleyball League Champions. Dayne Williams and Signa President were crowned Male and Female MVPs of the 2014 Commercial Volleyball League.
In Group B, the competition was stiffer with Police wanting to retain their title and CFL gunning to dethrone them. WASCO was no push over either, aiming to prove their last place finish last year was just bad luck. CFL finished top of the group with a hard fought victory over the Police. WASCO sat in third, Ministry of Sports in fourth and Sandals in the last spot.
preparation for the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games) to be held November, 2014. Ranked at number nine in on the NORCECA Circuit the duo continue to face off against higher ranked teams, which to their benefit, continue to aid in their improvement.
CAYMAN ISLANDS April 23 – 28, 2014 The duo entered the first leg of the 2014 NORCECA tour ranked 9th. They were accompanied by their female counterparts Dania Hamilton and Jamilla Lansiquot. The men’s division totaled 15 teams and 11 countries in pool play. The St. Lucian men were grouped to compete against Canada (Wheelan/Plantingua), Guatemala (Garrido/Blanco), USA (Rogers/Brunner) and host Cayman (Hamann/Manderson). With Joseph Clercent playing through severe cramps, the duo finished third in their group moving onto the quarterfinal stage where they faced USA’s team one (Slick/Montgomery) losing in straight sets and finishing off 9th overall in the first stage of the tour. The women’s division took on the double elimination format with17 teams and 12 countries. The ladies lost to Puerto Rico (Bernier / Cajigas) in opening playing and faced off against USA (Hughes/Engle) as the dropped to the losers bracket. Their loss to USA saw them knocked out, in keeping with the double eliminate format rules. The ladies completed this stage of the tour in 14th place.
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala April 30 – May 5, 2014 Bissette and Clercent continued on to Guatemala City for the tours second stage which comprise of 15 teams and 11 countries leading to a pool play format. The duo was grouped with powerhouses Canada (Fecteau-Boutin/ Battiston), Cuba (Gonzalez/Diaz) and USA (Olson/Mc Colloch). Losing all 3 of their pool play matches the St. Lucia men finished off this stage of the tour in the 13th spot, still managing to keep St. Lucia’s overall NORCECA ranking at 9.
Jullian Bissette (background), Joseph Clercent (Foreground)
HUIXQUILUCAN, México May 28 – June 2, 2014
With Club GAR and CFL gaining a bye straight into the semifinals, the quarter final battles were underway. ECFH faced WASCO in a five set battle with ECFH claiming victory 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 17-25, 15-7. Police made quick work of Education winning in straight sets 25-15, 25-14, 25-13. In the classification stages
Royal St. Lucia Police Force - 2014 Commercial Volleyball League Champions
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The 5th stage of the 2014 NORCECA Beach Tour took Joseph and Julian to the majestic shores of Mexico. St. Lucia dropped to the 11th overall spot after missing the 2 previous stages due their participation in the 3rd round of the 2014 NORCECA World Championship Qualification. 16 teams and 12 countries saw pool play in this stage, St. Lucia facing USA (Rogers/Brunner), Aruba (Daniel/De Cuba) and Canada (Fecteau-Boutin/Battiston) in pool B. The duo finished 3rd in their group winning one out of their 3 pool play matches against Aruba. The Lucians finished off 11th in this stage and 10th overall in the NORCECA Beach Volleyball rankings.
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2014 NORCECA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION – ROUND 3
St. Lucia Men’s and Women’s Senior Team reached
the 3rd Round of the 2014 World Volleyball Championships, Both teams had claimed gold medals in round one in St. Lucia (Men) and Grenada (Women) in 2012. St. Lucia hosted the second round men in 2013 where St. Lucia defeated Haiti to qualify for Round 3. The women battled in Curacao losing to Curacao but held on to the qualify in second place to qualify for round 3 as well.
Men: Colorado Springs, USA. May 13 – 19, 2014 With the Poland 2014 FIVB World Championships one tournament win away, St. Lucia acquired the expertise of Joao Carlos de Campos affectionately known as “Café”, to help prepare the teams. Café spent 3 weeks drilling the men to take on Guatemala, Haiti and the titans, USA. The Locally based players were joined by the Octave brothers Jason and Gillan in Colorado.
dealt to them by St. Lucia and took the team to task winning 3-1 (12-25, 25-23, 25-19, 30-28). The teams 3rd and final preliminary match was defensively sound Guatemala. St. Lucia fell to the Central American team in straight sets (18-25, 18-25, 19-25). The preliminary standing matched USA to play Guatemala for gold and St. Lucia to battle Haiti yet again for bronze. The bronze medal match was a grueling five set affair. Haiti captured the first set 25-15. St. Lucia climbed back in the second set edging a 2 point victory with 23-25. The game began to see-saw in the 3rd set as Haiti prevailed winning 25-18. St. Lucia refused to go down without a fight came back to win the 4th set 2125. By this time the crowd had rallied behind the St. Lucia team and cheered them on through the 5th set. The stadium support helped edge St. Lucia overcame Haiti, winning the 5th set and the match 12-15. Though St. Lucia was disappointed and did not achieve their goal of a second place finish which would have given them another chance at the final round of qualification, the Team can feel good about making it to the third round of FIVB World Championship qualification, another milestone for St. Lucia Volleyball. The team returned with that being accomplished; and an individual award for Best Opposite Player, which went to Julian Bissette. USA was the eventual champion earning the ticket to Poland.
St. Lucia’s opening match was versus USA who handily put away the team in straight sets (25-13, 25-9, 25-9). Haiti sought revenge for the second round loss
Dayne Williams (#6) vs USA Middle Attack
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Women: Puerto Rico, May 13 – 19, 2014
The St. Lucia ladies also faced a tough match
up and in round robin play faced Barbados, Costa Rica and host Puerto Rico. Joining the team was Tyna William who is on scholarship at Albany State University and Indira Laurencin-Roachford, former collegiate volleyball player out of Coppin State University. The Lucian ladies opened the tournament against Barbados in a 4 set battle. Barbados won the opener (25-23, 22-25, 25-14, 25-18). Their next matchup was against the tournament favorite, host and power house Puerto Rico. St. Lucia was unable to match the speed of the Puerto Rican plays and suffered their second loss (25- 4, 25- 9, 25-10). Costa Rica was their final matchup in the preliminaries who got the best of the team in straight sets (18-25, 12-25, 14-25). Finishing at the bottom of the standings in the prelims, St. Lucia played Barbados for bronze and Puerto Rico against Costa Rica for gold. The St. Lucian’s fared better against the Bajans this time around but could not overcome them losing in another 4 set battle (25-21, 25-23, 25-27, 25-17). Puerto Rico was the eventual tournament champion earning a spot at the 2014 FIVB World Championship in Italy. St. Lucia, however did not leave empty handed, as libero, Sancha Isidore walked away with the Best Digger Award. Natalie Edward - Captain (#1 - Attacking)
Latoya Edward (#4 - Attacking)
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Tel No. : (758) 452-3165 Fax No. : (758) 453-6907 Email: blocksetspike@yahoo.com Proud Member of The St. Lucia Olympic Committee
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Augustin “Matlo” Faulkner Blocking vs Italy at FIVB U-23 Beach Volleyball World Championships