Toco Youth Academy and Southern United Volleyball Academy (SUVA) secured the two automatic places available to the Men's Open Division semifinals of the fourth Players League hosted by the T&T Volleyball Federation carded for today after topping their respective round-robin groups with unbeaten records on Saturday night.
Playing in a winner-take-all Group A decider at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Chaguanas, Toco Youth Academy defeated two-time defending champions, BIG South East Port-of-Spain (SEPoS) 25-18, 25-22, 25-21 to end with a 2-0 record after beating Defence Force 25-16, 25-16, 31-29 in its opener.
BIG SEPoS, which was also beaten in the round-robin of last year's competition by Toco at the Mayaro Indoor Sports Arena, before turning the tide in the final against the same opponent, spanked Defence Force, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19 on Friday in its other pool match.
Despite the loss, SEPoS with its 1-1 record advanced to last night's quarterfinals along with winless Defence Force.
In the quarterfinals, SEPoS came up against the third placed team from Group B, Guyana while Group B runner-up, Technocrats met Group A third placed team, Defence Force for the two remaining semifinal spots.
Southern United took top spot in Group B after outlasting Technocrats in their pool decider, 25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12 to end with a 3-0 record on Saturday night.
Yesterday, Guyana took the final quarterfinal spot after beating West Side Stars 25-18, 25-16, 27-25.
In their previous matches, Southern United swept past Guyana 25-21, 25-17, 25-23 on Friday and then West Side Stars 25-19, 25-22, 25-23 in its first match on Saturday while Technocrats defeated West Side Stars 25-18, 23-25, 25-16, 25-23 and followed it up by beating Guyana 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21
Today the semifinals in the Men Open will start at 1pm followed by the second match at 3pm and the winner-take-all $18,000 final at 7pm.
Meanwhile, Technocrats will enter today's Women's Open Division four-team competition as the top semifinal seed after registering a come-from-behind victory over national champions, University of T&T in their final round-robin match yesterday to end with a 3-0 record.
Both teams entered the match with 2-0 records, however in the end it was Technocrats which kept its 100 per cent win record intact ahead of today's semifinals by virtue of its 23-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-17 victory.
In the two other matches, Technocrats downed Defence Force 25-13, 25-7, 25-5 and West Side Stars 25-10, 25-18, 25-12 while UTT humbled West Side Stars 25-19, 25-15, 29-27, and Defence Force 25-21, 25-14, 25-17.
In today's semifinal, Technocrats faces cellar-placed Defence Force while UTT come up against West Side Stars.
This after Defence Force got the better of West Side Stars in five sets (3-2) in the final round-robin match, for their lone round-robin win and third spot on the table.
Results
YESTERDAY
Women
Technocrats bt UTT 23-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-17
Defence Force bt West Side Stars 3-2
Men B
Guyana bt West Side Stars 25-18, 25-16, 27-25
Saturday
Women
Technocrats bt West Side Stars 25-10, 25-18, 25-12
UTT bt Defence Force 25-21, 25-14, 25-17
Men Group A
Toco Youth Academy bt BIG SEPoS 25-18, 25-22, 25-21
Men Group B:
Southern United bt West Side Stars 25-19, 25-22, 25-23
Technocrats bt Guyana 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21
Southern United bt Technocrats 25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12
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