Playing in their 17-team women's double-elimination format, Dyette and Joseph eased to victory 21-10, 21-8 to set up a meeting with USA-A pairing, Heather Hughes and Christal Engle, who defeated countrywomen, Tealle Hunkus and Kimberly Mc Given 19-21, 21-16, 15-11 in their opener at the scenic Seven Miles Beach, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.Other teams advancing to the last-eight main draw were Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Mexico-A, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Canada-A.It was a great start for the T&T women after they did not compete in the last tournament due to financial problems.
Speaking after the win, Dyette said the key to victory was that they executed their game plan well."We noticed in practiced that our service game had become a strong point for us and in this match we did just exactly that and served a lot of aces which made it tough on their passing game."Our communication on the court was also great and we are looking to build on this showing in our next match which is a virtually a main draw quarterfinal against one of the American teams.Joseph, the more experienced of the two added, "Starting with a victory is always a good thing and especially when you are playing in double-elimination formats."It gives us confidence going forward and we are now focus on getting a similar result in our next match.
"We will be playing one of the American teams, so just as we did against Honduras we will need to repeat against them, that is serve well, defend well and communicate well," ended Joseph.
Despite being underdogs for today's match with USA-A, both T&T players, who twice ended in fourth spot on the tour in 2012 believed that a possible upset could be on the cards.
However, the local men's team of Under-23 duo, Tevin Joseph and Tarandath Deonath who are preparing for the FIVB World Under-23 Championships had a tough start in their five-team Pool C round-robin series, losing to Canada-B duo, Cameron Wheelan and Michael Platinga 15-21, 7-21 ahead of matches against Arubans Eargenel De Cuba and Alexander Mitchell, Olney Thompson/Phillippe Des Landes (Cayman Islands-A), and two-time defending champions, Puerto Ricans Roberto Rodriguez and Erik Haddock.