T&T's Daneil Williams and Simon Blake had to settle for a disappointing 11th of 15 teams at the fourth stop of the Seventh Norceca International Beach Volleyball Circuit in Toluca, Mexico, on Sunday.This after missing out on a quarterfinal spot following a 10-21, 16-21 loss to Canada-1 duo Grant O'Gorman and Samuel Pedlow in a must-win match to reach the last-eight as a top two qualifier from Pool D.In their first two Pool matches on Friday at the State of Mexico University Sports Complex, San Antonio Buenaventura, Williams and Blake started off Pool D play by beating Arubans Mitchel Daniel and Earganell De Cuba, 21-19, 17-21, 15-5, in 50 minutes but in their second match, the duo was stopped by USA-2 players Casey Jennings and Stafford Slick, 15-21, 14-21.
The Canadians, meanwhile, beat Daniel and De Cuba, 21-14, 21-10, and USA's Jennings and Slick, 25-23, 21-18 while the latter defeated Daniel and De Cuba, 21-13, 21-11 for second spot.
It was the fourth straight tournament on the tour for both T&T players, after they placed 11th of 16 teams in the first-leg in Cayman Islands back in March, followed by seventh from 13 teams inBoca Chica, Dominican Republic, a week later, and a season-best fifth in Guatemala. On Sunday, Jennings and Slick scored a 21-17, 16-21, 17-15 victory over defending champions Mexico's Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, winners of the past two stages in the gold medal match.In the semifinals, Ontiveros/Virgen won 19-21, 21-14, 15-9 over Grant O'Gorman/Samuel Pedlow of Canada-A while Jennings/Slick prevailed 21-19, 21-23, 16-14 against Roberto Rodriguez/Hector Soto, of Puerto Rico.
In the game for the third place, Rodriguez/Soto won 14-21, 22-20, 23-21 to O'Gorman/Pedlow.The local women's team of Nancy Joseph and Pauline Woodroffe were 15th of 16 participants after failing to win any of their three matches. The top T&T women's pair were beaten by Hondurans Gina Flores and Martha Euceda, 14-21, 17-21, and Canada-1, Kacie Mc Tavish and Caleigh Whitaker, 4-21, 8-21 on Friday, and then went under to Curacao's Christine Anthony and Samira Luis 4-21, 18-21.USA's Emily Day and Whitney Pavlik of USA claimed the women's gold medal overcoming Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas of Mexico-A 15-21, 21-15, 17-15.The next stop on the tour takes place in Cuba from August 21�26 followed by Mexico (September 11�16); Puerto Rico (September 18�23); San Diego (October 2�7); St Lucia (October 9�14); Costa Rica (October 30 � November 4) and T&T, November 13�18. NS