The top ranked local women's beach volleyball duo of Nancy Joseph and Ayana Dyette had their best finish in three outings so far this season on the 2014 NORCECA Beach Volleyball circuit when they placed seventh of 16 teams at the third-leg served held at the historical colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala.
Joseph and Dyette were beaten in their quarterfinal by Cubans, Lianma Flores and Leila Martinez 13-21, 10-21.
The T&T women reached their first last-eight stage of the season after ending in second spot in their four-team Pool C round-robin series with a 2-1 record.
On Friday, Dyette and Joseph defeated Shari Matthews and Anicia Wood of Barbados and Natalia Giron and Estefanie Bethancourth of Guatemala-C.
However, in their Pool decider with Canada-A duo Victoria Altomare and Julie Gordon, the T&T girls were humbled 14-21, 14-21.
Altomare and Gordon swept past Giron and Bethancourth 21-11, 21-15 and battled past Matthews and Wood 23-21, 21-12 in their first two matches.
In other quarterfinal matches, USA-A duo, Tealle Hunkus and Kimberly Mc Given defeated Guatemala-B Orellana sisters, Maria J and Maria A 21-13, 21-16 to set up a semifinal meeting with the Cubans while Costa Rica's Karen Cope and Natalia Alfaro beat Diana Romero and Marcela Avalos of El Salvador 21-16, 21-13; and USA-B's Tracy Weamer and Kendra Vanzweiten overcame Altomare and Gordon 24-22, 18-21, 17-15..
Last weekend, Joseph and Dyette were 12th placed finishers of the 16 teams in the Gatorade-sponsored second-leg after the top ranked local pairing missed out on a quarterfinal spot while they were 11th in the tour opener in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands a week earlier.
On the men's side, the T&T Under-23 duo, Tevin Joseph and Tarandath Deonath who were using the first three legs of the tour as preparations for the upcoming FIVB World Under-23 Championships in Myslowice, Poland, from June 10-15 continued to struggle.
Beaten by Puerto Ricans, Roberto Rodriguez and Eric Haddock and then versus El Salvador-A pairing, Carlos Escobar and David Vargas in Pool B on Friday, Joseph and Deonath also went under to Guatemala-C's Erick Flores and Mark Alvarez, 10-21, 14-21.
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