On September 1st, Coach Jason Liburd accompanied four athletes to St. Kitts for the first U21 Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) Beach Volleyball Championship.
Deandra Fleming and Lavesha Richardson represented the females while Trevon Smith and Je’Vaunti Sasso represented the males.
The tournament was held on the beach at the Marriot Hotel. Nine countries participated in this event – St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda.
Each country was represented by a male and female team with one exception, St. Kitts & Nevis only had a male team.
The first match for the tournament played on Saturday 2nd September at 9am. In group play for the ladies, Anguilla defeated Antigua & Barbuda 21 – 18, 21 – 15 and St. Vincent & The Grenadines 21 -13, 21 – 16.
The quarter finals match for the female division was played later in the afternoon of the same day. The team defeated the British Virgin Islands 21 – 13, 21 – 13. This victory placed them in the semi-finals and as one of the top four teams at the tournament.
The semi-final was played on Sunday 3rd September where we met Antigua & Barbuda once again. Unfortunately, the results were not the same as we lost 17 – 21, 14 – 21. All was not lost as we still had a chance to earn a medal.
The bronze medal match was scheduled for 2pm that same afternoon against Grenada. We defeated Grenada 19 – 21, 21 – 18, 15 – 8 to earn third-place position in the tournament. This was very significant as it is the first time any Anguillian team earned a medal in Beach Volleyball.
The men also started group play on Saturday 2nd September. In group play we defeated St. Vincent & The Grenadines 20 – 22, 21 – 16, 15 – 5; lost to Dominica 20 – 22, 13 – 21; and defeated BVI 21 – 14, 21 – 8. These results earned us a place in the quarterfinals against St. Kitts & Nevis.
The quarter-final match was played on Sunday 3rd September where we lost to St. Kitts & Nevis in straight sets 11 – 21, 15 – 21. Although we lost in the quarterfinals, our good pool play record resulted in us being ranked 5th overall.
