T&T men's duo of Jerome Morrison and Jahreef Miguel will play for the ninth spot against Nicaraguans Carlos Solis and Alexander Meneses when the three-day Norceca Beach Volleyball Tour Under-23 Tournament concludes at Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, from 9 am on Thursday.
This after the Sean Morrison-coached local pair outlasted Dominican Republic's Elixander Gomez and Blendy Tavarez 21-13, 20-22, 15-13 in 46 minutes in their ninth to 12th semifinal playoff yesterday while Solis and Meneses swept aside Arubans Gregory De La Cruz and Joshua Hoepelman 21-8, 21-13 in the other with the losers to play for the 11th spot.
Earlier Wednesday, competing in Pool C of the men’s 16-team competition, Morrison and Miguel ended the group stage on a high with a 21-14, 21-17 defeat of Arubans Vladimir Solovey and Thelion Coutinho.
On Tuesday when the competition began, Morrison and Miguel were outplayed by Costa Ricans Julian Araya and Stanley Grant 11-21, 7-21 before losing to El Salvadorean twin brothers Yoel Guardado and Christopher Guardado, 13-21, 6-21.
Araya and Grant defeated Solovey and Coutinho 21-5, 21-7 to finish the day at 2-0, the same as the Guardado brothers, who swept past Solovey, and Coutinho 21-10, 21-7.
The Guardado brothers then outlasted Araya and Stanley 21-19, 16-21, 15-13 in the battle for the top spot in the pool with a 3-0 record.
When the main draw quarterfinals took place, Kyle Paulson and Sebastian Rodriguez of the USA ousted Araya and Grant 21-16, 21-15 while the other American pair Tates Calles and Brendan Onishchenko won by walkover versus St Kitts and Nevis Zendai Richards and Clerique Ward.
In the other main draw quarterfinals, Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo stopped Dominican Republic's Rolvin Maldonado, and Alexander Wilmore 21-5, 21-6 while Canada's Tynan Gannette and Steven Abrams booted the Guardado twins 21-17, 21-19.
In the semifinals, the Americans will clash while the Cubans meet the Canadian pair.
Roberts, Johnson in hunt for ninth spot as well
The local women’s team of Roberts and Johnson will face St Vincent and the Grenadines' Shanadia Sylvester and Saquanna Duncan in their ninth to 12th losers semifinal this morning while Nicaraguans Kadderly Salazar and Yuliana Chavez meet Anguillans Lavesha Richardson and Deandra Fleming after they all received quarterfinal byes.
This after the T&T duo ended the round-robin group phase with a 0-3 Pool B record after a third straight sets loss, this time to 11th-ranked USA's Sierra Caffo and Ella Larkin 5-21, 8-21 in 25 minutes as the latter topped the pool with a perfect 3-0 record.
On Tuesday in their first couple of matches, the T&T duo went under to second-ranked Canada’s Katarina Pantovic and Erika Vermette, 11-21, 14-21, followed by a loss against fifth-seeded El Salvador’s Keiry Guzman and Daniela Vigil, 7-21, 11-21.
Caffo and Larkin swept past Guzman and Vigil 21-12, 21-5 and also toppled Pantovic and Vermette, 21-14, 21-16 while the latter overcame Guzman and Vigil 21-8, 21-13 for the second spot and a 2-1 record.
In the main draw quarterfinals, Caffo and Larkin upstaged top-ranked Crismil Paniagua and Nallelin Taveras of the Dominican Republic 21-12, 21-18; Pantovic and Vermette defeated Costa Ricans Laura Molina and Kianny Araya 21-9, 21-10; Cubans Amanda Armenteros and Maykelin Drik whipped Guzman and Vigil 21-9, 21-7, and USA Delayne Maple and Xolani Hodel overcame Canada's Alisa Gavva and Karolina Urbanovich 21-10, 21-16.
Today in the main draw semifinals, Caffor and Larkin face fellow Americans Maple and Hodel while Pantovic and Vermtte tackle Cuba's Armenteros and Drik.
