T&T women and men's beach volleyball teams will be seeking improvements when they compete in the Gatorade second-leg of the 2014 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Campo Marte, Guatemala City, Guatemala from today until Sunday.
Last weekend, when the tour served off at Seven Miles Beach, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, the top ranked local women's pairing of Ayana Dyette and Nancy joseph won their opening match of the 17-team double-elimination competition before losing the next two to end 11th.
T&T women beat Hondurans Gina Flores and Martha Euceda on Friday but on Saturday lost to USA's Tealle Hunkus/Kimberly Mc Given. They also lost in the losers draw round-of-16 when they were ousted by host duo, Cristin Alexander and Jessica Wolfenden.
Hunkus and McGiven eventually won the title over Canada-A duo, Melissa Humana and Taylor Piscke and will be going for a repeat on the dark sands of Campo Marte.
Their toughest obstacle in the women's field is expected from compatriots Heather Hughes and Christal Engle, who had to settle for the bronze in the opener of the season, 21-19, 21-9 over Mexico-B, Vanessa Virgen and Paulette Cruz.
The local men's team of Tevin Joseph and Tarandath Deonath had a miserable outing in Cayman as they ended winless (0-4) in their five-team Pool C round-robin series.
Seventeen men's pairs have been registered for the tournament in which Cuba's Sergio Gonzalez, one the most successful players on the circuit with eight gold medals under his belt, figures to be among the main attractions with new partner, Nivaldo D�az while last week's winners, USA-B Todd Rogers and Theodore Brunner have opted out.
Casey Jennings, who makes a duo with Jeremy Casebeer in the USA-A team, won last year in Toluca combined with Stafford Slick, second in Cayman Islands with William Montgomery after a 12-21, 18-21 loss to Rogers and Brunner.