Top local men and women beach volleyball pairings, Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield and Ayanna Dyette and Elki Phillips missed out on bronze medal after losing in their third place matches at the ninth leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit when the first ever tournament hosted by St Lucia ended at Pigeon Point Beach, Gros Islet on Sunday.
In the men's semifinal, eventual champions, USA-1 William Montgomery and Jonathan Mesko battled past Whitfield and Williams 21-12, 25-23 while USA-2's Jeffrey Carlson and Antonio Ciarelli stopped St Lucians, Julian Bisette and Joseph Clercent, 21-14, 21-16.
With a chance to redeem themselves, Whitfield and Williams came up short, 14-21, 13-21 against St Lucia.
On Saturday, Whitfield and Williams defeated Costa Ricans Estoban Escobar and Jose Suarez 19-21, 21-14, 15-8 but were beaten by Carlson and Ciarelli, in three tough sets, 21-11, 25-27, 13-15 before booting fellow T&T pair, Simon Blake and Colin Bernard, 24-22, 21-17 in the quarterfinals.
Blake and Bernard defeated Grenada's Adan La Feillee and Gregg Gilbert 21-16, 21-17 and USVI's Marc Lomeli and Anthony Pippen, 16-21, 21-7, 15-11 in their other matches. A day earlier, Williams and Whitfield swept past British Virgin Islands duo, Drexel Glascow and Canice Marquis 21-12, 21-11 in their opening match while Blake and Bernard also defeated the BVI duo by walkover after losing their opener to Escobar and Suarez, 15-21, 13-21.
Phillip and Dyette also had to settle for fourth spot after going under to Canada's Kristina Vleck and Victoria Cowley in the bronze match, 24-26, 14-21. This after the local girls were beaten in the semifinals by Costa Rica's Ingrid Morales and Natasha Alfaro 10-21, 9-21.
On Saturday, Phillip and Dyete were also beaten by the Costa Ricans in their round-robin group, 15-21, 11-21 before the T&T women rebounded to secure wins over St Lucians, Samantha Mann 21-11, 21-18 and Dominican Republic's Deborah Constanzo and Karla Montilla while the other T&T women's team of Nancy Joseph and Paula Woodroffe were upended by Vleck and Cowley, 12-21, 19-21.
Friday, Phillip and Dyette were also in winners' row over home town players, Mann and Hamilton, 21-14, 21-11 while Joseph and Woodroffe won over the same St Lucian combination, 21-13, 21-7.
Earlier on, fourth seeded, Costa Ricans, Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro overwhelmed Joseph and Woodroffe, 21-13, 21-16. The tenth leg takes place in T&T next month at Saith Park, Chaguanas, from November 16-18.
