T&T senior men's volleyball squad fell to 0-2 at the 24th NORCECA Men's Continental Championship Olympic Qualifiers after suffering a straight sets loss to 15-time champions Cuba at the Cordoba Arena, Veracruz, Mexico, yesterday.
Following its opening night loss to Mexico, newly appointed captain Ryan Stewart and his T&T squad was eager to get among the win column. However, the Cubans who won their opener with Costa Rica had other ideas and stormed to a 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 win over the T&T men.
Leading the win for the winners were Rolando Cepeda with nine points while Javier Jimenez, Livan Osaria and Tomas Sosa added eight, seven and six points, respectively.
Stewart scored a team-high five points for T&T while Finland-based Akim Bushe, Brandon Legall and Simon Blake added four points each and Germany-base Marc-Anthony Honore got three.
On Monday night in their opener against Mexico, T&T went under 22-25, 16-25, 22-25 to start their quest for a spot at next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
For the Mexicans, Nestor Orellana was the top scorer with 12 points, while Jorge Barajas added six, and Pedro Rangel and Alejandro Moreno got five each.
The trio of Humberto Ceballos, Ivan Marquez and Gerson Acosta added four points each for the winners who led 37-29 on spike, 5-2 on blocks, 4-2 service aces.
Leading the way for T&T was Stewart and Simon Blake, the reigning Caribbean Most Valuable Player both tallied ten points for T&T.
Stewart even served two aces and Brandon Legall got six points for T&T which surprised Mexico in the first and third sets.
However, the Mexican defence was key to solving the match in three sets with a 29-17 excellent digs advantage.
The loss for the T&T men was the second straight at the Continental Cup against Mexico, after the latter won 25-20, 25-12, 25-21 in their fifth place playoff in Puerto Rico four years, while in 2007 T&T ended in the eighth and cellar-spot on debut.
Today, T&T faces Costa Rica from 3 pm to end round-robin play while Puerto Rico faces Canada at 7 pm, and Mexico battles Cuba two hours later.
Two years ago in Langley, USA won the gold medal and beating Canada 25-23, 25-20, 25-14, for its eighth title. The top team from each pool will advance directly to the semifinals securing a spot in the Final Four Olympic Qualifier Tournament in January.
The teams that placed second and third from each pool will meet in crossed quarterfinals matches for the two other places.
Last weekend, the T&T women placed seventh in their Olympic qualifiers also held in Mexico.