T&T's men and women pairings of Daneil Williams and Joel Theodore, and Malika Davidson and LaTeisha Joseph were beaten in their respective round-robin pool opening matches when the 2019 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tournament served off in Aguascalientes, La Isla de San Marcos, Mexico, yesterday.
Competing in Pool A of the 16-team men's tournament, Williams and Theodore put up a strong showing before losing to Nicaraguans Ruben Mora and Dany Lopez 21-19, 23-25, 11-15 in 45 minutes.
Last night, Williams and Theodore were scheduled to face Olympians and current Pan American champions Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros of Mexico before closing out group play today against Francis Hauze and Michael Jenkins of Belize.
Virgen and Ontiveros defeated Hauze and Jenkins 21-10, 21-14 in their first match while the latter pairing faced Mora and Lopez last night.
Joseph and Davidson also served off their tournament against Nicaraguans, Swan Mendoza and Lolette Rodríguez, and suffered a 13-21, 14-21 defeat in 27 minutes while Falyn Fonoimoana/Nicolette Martin (USA-B) beat Amanda Dowdy/Corinne Quiggle (USA-A) 21-15, 21-16 in the two Pool B first-round matches.
Last night, Joseph and Davidson came up against Dowdy and Quiggle while Mendoza and Rodríguez faced Fonoimoana and Martin.
Today, Joseph and Davidson play Fonoimoana and Martin, and Dowdy and Quiggle come up against Mendoza and Rodriguez.
At the end of the round-robin pool matches, the top two teams in each of the four men and women pools will qualify to the main draw quarterfinal knockout to play for the gold medals while the remaining teams will compete in similar playoffs for positions ninth to 16.
Following the conclusion of the tournament in Mexico, the T&T pairs will head straight to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands for the Second Leg of the Norceca Tour Circuit hosted by the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation (CIVF) from April 26 to 28 April at Seven Mile Public Beach.
For the first two legs of the tour, Williams, a three-time bronze medal winner on the circuit, and Theodore will be T&T men’s representative before being replaced by top-ranked Daynte Stewart, Williams former playing partner and 2018 Commonwealth Games team-mate, and Marlon ‘Waldo” Phillip, another Williams, former team-mate.