T&T senior men's volleyballer will return to action today after yesterday's off day when they compete in the fifth to eighth semifinals at the Seventh Men's Pan American Cup in Dominican Republic. The 34th ranked T&T which ended without a win from its three Pool A matches will face one of last night's quarterfinal losers from 1 pm while' Venezuela, which also finished with a 0-3 record in Pool will also be in action two hours later. On Wednesday, the Nolan Tash-captained T&T squad suffered a hard fought straight sets loss to Canada at the Palace of the Sport in the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Centre, Santo Domingo. Following losses to host Dominican Republic and Argentina, both T&T and Canada went into their final Pool A match with 0-2 records. However, it was the 18th world ranked Canadians who came out on top against the T&T, the reigning Caribbean champions, 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 in 75 minutes to finish third in the group with a 1-2 record.
For Canada,Christopher Hoag led with ten points while Dane Pischke and Joshua Van Berkel got nine each, and Gerald Kilpatrick, eight points. T&T captain, Nolan Tash had a match-high 11 points, Marc-Anthony Honore added eight, Sean Morrison seven, and Jessel Davis and Ryan Stewart, five apiece. In the pool decider, Argentina battled past Dominican Republic 21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 15-13 for a 3-0 record and an automatic spot in today's main draw semifinal. On Tuesday night, Argentina, 25-20, 17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 16-14 improved to 2-0 with a 25-10, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11 over a combative T&T line-up which was beaten 25–13, 25–19, 30–28 by the host on Monday. For Argentina which won the match in 82 minutes, Mariano Giustiniano (16), Gonzalo Quiroga (15) and Gonzalo Lapera (12) all scored in double-figures. Honore was the lone scorer of note for T&T with 15 while Simon Blake added eight, Stewart seven and Tash, six. In the other match in the pool, host Dominican Republic achieved its first victory ever over Canada 25-23, 25-20, 25-17 on Tuesday for a 2-0 record as well.
Also on Wednesday, USA beat Brazil 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 to top Pool B and advance to the semifinals. Mexico finished third in Pool B with its first win in three matches, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23 to end with a 1-2 record. On Tuesday night in Pool B, the second string USA, coasted past Mexico, 25-8, 25-16, 25-18 in 69 minutes after defeating Venezuela 25-17, 25-19, 25-12 on Monday night.
The young Brazilians brushed aside Venezuela, 25-20, 25-15, 25-16 in 74 minutes to follow up its 25-15, 25-15, 25-15 defeat of Mexico on Monday. Last night in the quarterfinals, Brazil came up against Canada while Dominican Republic played Mexico, the 2007 winner. USA, the most successful team in the tournament having won four times (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), and Argentina do battle against the last-eight winners in the main draw semifinals from 5 pm and 7 pm respectively ahead of tomorrow's finals.
The eight-team competition will qualify the best ranked team, not already included in the 2013 FIVB World League, to the 2012 World League Qualification Tournament later this year.
