T&T Under-18 men's volleyball team entered their semifinal clash with host Jamaica at the fifth Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association Youth Boys' Championship being held at the GC Foster College Auditorium, Spanish Town, Jamaica last night seeking revenge.This after the Jamaicans defeated the Gideon Dickson-coached T&T squad 25-12, 21-25, 25-16, 25-12 in their final round-robin match of the four-team tournament at the same venue on Friday night.
Leading the way for the host was captain Jovan Thomas with 16 points, while Shavar James added 12, Javarie James got nine and Oneil Daley, eight in the win which came after one hour and 37 minutes of play for a 2-1 mark.For T&T, Tyrique Nicolas was once again the main contributor with a match-high 17 points while Khristian Mussio got five and Tyrique Beckles four in the loss, the second straight to end with a 1-2 record.
Overall, Jamaica dominated T&T throughout and led 34-23 on spikes, 10-1 on blocks and 11-6 on service aces while they also committed less errors, 35 to T&T's 41.Defending champions Barbados won its third straight match, 25-15, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20 over Haiti led by Brandon Callender and Omari Taylor with 18 and 13 points respectively.
The duo of Akeel Stoute and Jiovanni Forde-Watson both contributed eight points for the Barbadians while Denilson Francois had a match-high 23 for Haiti, which had a chance at redemption when both teams met in the first semifinal yesterday.Today, the semifinal losers will meet for third spot from 4pm (TT time) while the final takes places two hours later.
...Whitfield, Williams advance in Varadero
T&T men's beach volleyball duo, Fabien Whitfield and Daneil Williams advanced to yesterday's quarterfinals at the fourth stage of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit after ending with a 1-2 Group D pool record on the sands of Barcelo-Solymar-Arenas Blancas Hotel in Varadero, Cuba, on Friday.
Competing in Pool D, Whitfield and Whitfield, fresh off competing on the FIVB World Tour in Florida, defeated Suriname's Furgil Ong-A-Fat and Zefanio Breinburg 21-8, 21-9 in their opener.However, the Toco-born T&T duo were then outlasted by Cuba-B duo Yendry Castillo and Liosbel M�ndez 9-21, 26-24, 12-15 before rebounding to beat Costa Ricans Rooper Espinoza and Alexander Villegas 21-17, 21-12.
What made the performances of the T&T duo so remarkable to date was that the T&T Volleyball Federation was unable to pay for the "Toco Boys" to go to Cuba, but the players themselves offered a solution that made it possible. They took the money they had remaining and winnings from a recent California tournament and travel to Cuba to represent T&T, while the T&TVF covered their registration expenses.
Castillo and M�ndez also scored victories over Espinoza and Villegas 21-17, 21-15), and Ong-A-Fat and Breinburg 21-9, 21-9 to qualify to the last-eight as pool winners with a 3-0 record.
Fellow Cubans Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Hernandez (CUB-A), the champions of the recent Pan American Games in Toronto and winners at the Central American Games in Veracruz 2014, defeated Aaron Nusbaun and Mike Plantinga (Canada-B) 21-16, 21-13; William S�nchez and Luis Castillo (Dominican Republic) 21-11, 21-9, and Hondurans' Marty Wood and Wilfredo Vega 21-6, 21-13 for a similar 3-0 mark in Pool C.
The main duo of Canada, Chistrian Redmann and Felipe Humana won against their two only opponents in Pool A, Franklin Flores and Armando Guatemala (El Salvador) 21-13, 21-12, and Rub�n Mora and Miguel L�pez (Nicaragua) 21-19, 17-21, 15-11.
And in Pool B, Edwin Burik/Curt Toppel of USA defeated Tevin St Jean/Augustin Faulkner (St Lucia) 21-13, 21-16, and Senel Dupuy/Kelpes Vilmont (Haiti) 21-6, 21-13, ahead of their final match against Marc Lomeli and Brian Kwasny, of US Virgin Islands.
In the Women's Division, T&T women's duo, Malika Davidson and Ayana Dyette went under to USA-B pairing Irene Hester and Caitlin Ledoux 10-21, 15-21 and Cubans Lianma Flores and Yanileidis S�nches 19-21, 17-21 ahead of their final match against Canada-A's Rachel Cockrell and Camille Saxton (Canada-A) in Pool B.
The Canadians overcame Cubans Lianma Flores-Yanileidis S�nches 21-16, 21-23, 15-11 but were upended by Hester and Ledoux 15-21, 15-21.