This country's "Calypso Spikers" fell to a 0�2 record in Pool A of the 12th Movistar Women's Pan American Volleyball Cup after a second straight sets loss, this time to Argentina at Coliseo Miguel Grau, Callao, Peru on Tuesday night.
After going under to world top ranked and defending champion USA in their opener 13�25, 12�25, 13�25 on Monday, the T&T women were hopeful of a different outcome against the world 19th ranked South Americans, in the 12-team competition.
However, it was not to be as Argentina improved to a 2�0 win-loss record after defeating the resilient five-time Caribbean champions, 25�23, 25�18, 25�11 in 71 minutes.
T&T, which had captain Krystle Esdelle, Channon Thompson, Kelly-Anne Billingy, Darlene Ramdin, Andrea Kinsale, Sinead Jack and libero Courtnee-Mae Clifford in its starting line-up, got off to a good start in the first-set before the Argentineans mounted a late rally to claim the opening set by a small margin. The South Americans then relied on their experience and fundamental technique to take the second, and breezed past in the third.
Lucia Fresco and Emilce Sosa were the top offensive contributors for Argentina with 17 and 15 points respectively, while Yamila Paola Nizetich and Josefina Fernandez added eight and seven points respectively
Teenager Thompson finished with a team-high 16 points while Esdelle chipped in with ten and Jack, eight for T&T which was outscored 30�40 on spikes and 10�3 on service aces while holding a 7�6 edge on blocks.
Speaking after the match, Argentina captain Nizetich credited T&T for its early defensive play which forced her team into a change of strategy.
"We came in to win since the first point but it took a while to adjust to the high blocking of T&T," Nizetich said.
Esdelle while happy with her team's improvement also praised the Argentines for keeping their level of consistency throughout the match.
"We battled with them for most of the match with the exception of the third set," said the T&T captain.
Cuban-born T&T coach, Francisco Cruz noted that his team was on par in two key areas with the Argentines but was let down by its poor service reception.
Cruz said, "My team was right there in attack and blocking with the best of the area but our reception is an area where we need to work. I have to say that I am satisfied because the training conditions back home are not the same as those of the rest of the teams competing here."
In the other Pool A match, two-time winner, USA came back from a 0�2 deficit to defeat Puerto Rico 28�30, 25�23, 14�25, 17�25, 15�13 for their second victory while Puerto Rico fell to 0�2.
In Pool B, four-time winner Cuba defeated Costa Rica 25�20, 25�14, 25�17 for its second victory and Canada bounced back from losing a five-setter to Cuba to edge hosts Peru 25�19, 22�25, 25�20, 20�25, 15�11.
And in Pool C, Olympic champions and world second ranked Brazil overcame Mexico 23�25, 25�16, 25�21, 25�15 to leave both teams with 1�1 record while Dominican Republic downed Colombia 25�29, 25�14, 25�21 and now is with a 2�0 record atop the table.
Yesterday, the final round of round-robin matches were contested ahead of today's rest day while tomorrow matches resume with the seventh to tenth semifinal playoffs and main draw quarterfinals.
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