T&T men's volleyball pair of Fabien Whitfield and Daneil Williams finished in eighth position after they were outplayed by Dominican Republic's William Sanchez and Luis Castillo 12-21, 16-21 when the 2016 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit, sixth stop in Punta Cana ended yesterday.
Earlier on, the Toco-born local pair fell to Canada's Cameron Wheelan and Michael Plantinga 12-21, 18-21 in their fifth to eighth place semifinal.
On Saturday, the T&T men went under to USA's Crabb-brothers–Taylor and Trevor–in their main draw quarterfinal, 17-21, 12-21 to miss out on a third appearance in the semifinals.
When the second day of competition resumed on Saturday, Whitfield and Williams fell to Cubans, Karell Pena and Daisel Quesada 17-21, 14-21 but rebounded to beat US Virgin islands' Brian Kwasny and Dillon Lesniak 21-19, 21-10 to end with a 3-1 round-robin record in Pool B.
On Friday, Whitfield and Williams spanked Hondurans Jesus Oliva and Manfredo Hernandez 21-11, 21-14; and Curacao's Darwin Colina and Norandy Bonifasia 21-11, 21-13.
So far this season on the tour, the Toco-born T&T's men team created history, by securing a first-ever silver medal on the fourth stop in Costa Rica, two weeks ago, to add to their three bronze medals won previously.
Whitfield and Williams, who have been competing on the tour for eight years now, enter today's first day of competition on the back of a fifth placed finish in Cayman Islands on Sunday to add to their fourth place in Guatemala City's opening leg in March, while they were also ninth (Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico) and sixth in La Paz, Baja, California Sur.
The performances by Whitfield and Williams has lifted the pair to third place overall in the points table with 680, behind USA (900) and Canada (820) while Guatemala (535) and Mexico (480) complete the top five.
Diego Martin duo, national women's team pairing Ayana Dyette and Malika Davidson ended in 13th spot after a 12-21, 9-21 loss to Mexico-B pair, Stephanie Burnside and Diana Valdez-Lizarraga in their ninth to 16th losers quarterfinal.
Earlier in the day, Dyette and Davidson ended round-robin Pool D play with a 1-2 Pool record after winning their final match, 21-16, 21-19 against Dominican Republic's Raquel Ferrand and Camila Moreno.
On Friday, the T&T women were beaten by Nicaraguans Socorro Lopez and Claudia Machado 16-21, 23-21, 11-15 and Costa Ricans, Valeria Valenciano and Marcela Araya 18-21, 21-17, 13-15.
Last weekend, the T&T women ended seventh in Cayman Islands, their best for the season so far after they were eighth in Guatemala and, and tenth in La Paz, and 13th in Costa Rica.
The T&T women are currently sixth overall on the table with 355 points well behind leaders USA which has 980 followed by Canada (780), Mexico (740), Costa Rica (580) and El Salvador (460).
The third round of NORCECA Continental Beach Volleyball Olympic qualifiers for men comes off in St Lucia from May 26-30 while the women compete in San Salvador, El Salvador May 12-16.