Trinidad and To­ba­go’s men’s and women’s teams fin­ished in sev­enth po­si­tion at the in­au­gur­al Bonaire Vol­ley­ball Fed­er­a­tion-host­ed sev­enth stop of the 2019 NORCE­CA Beach Vol­ley­ball Tour­na­ment Cir­cuit at Delfins Beach Re­sort, Kral­endijk, Bonaire, on Sat­ur­day night.

In the men’s com­pe­ti­tion, T&T’s Daniel Williams and Mar­lon Phillip over­came St Kitts and Nevis’ St Clair Hodge and Shawn Seabrookes 25-23, 21-12 in their sev­enth spot play­off in the 13-team com­pe­ti­tion.

Speak­ing af­ter the win, Williams said it was a de­cent tour­na­ment for them.

“It was our first tour­na­ment to­geth­er in two years and while we had am­bi­tions of plac­ing high­er we were beat­en in a tough quar­ter­fi­nal by Cana­da on Fri­day night and then in the los­er’s semi­fi­nal against Nicaragua.

“We had a fifth-place fin­ish in Pun­ta Cana at the last stage and de­spite not re­peat­ing or plac­ing high­er we are hap­py to end on a win­ning note,” Williams said.

When the three-day com­pe­ti­tion re­sumed with the fifth to eighth spot semi­fi­nal play­offs, Nicaraguans Ale­jan­dro Ruben Mo­ra and An­to­nio Dany Lopez won 21-16, 21-18 over Williams and Phillip and El Sal­vado­rans Franklin Flo­res and David Var­gas had a 21-16, 21-17 vic­to­ry against Hodge and Seabrookes.

In the main-draw semi­fi­nals, USA-B duo Kristo­pher John­son and Christo­pher Austin out­last­ed their coun­try­men Kyle Friend and Travis Me­whirter, of USA-A, 16-21, 21-19, 15-13, while Mex­i­co’s Jose Luis Ru­bio and Jo­sue Gas­ton Gax­i­o­la de­feat­ed Cana­da’s Si­mon Fecteau-Boutin and Ivan Re­ka 21-18, 21-13 to reach the gold medal match.

Ru­bio and Gax­i­o­la, who were run­ners-up in Pun­ta Cana two week­ends ago, went a step bet­ter this time and took gold cour­tesy a 21-13, 21-12 vic­to­ry over John­son and Austin.

Friend and Me­whirter re­bound­ed to take third spot 21-16, 21-16 against Fecteau-Boutin and Re­ka, while the Nicaraguans won the clash with El Sal­vador 21-15, 21-19 for fifth spot.

In oth­er match­es, US Vir­gin Is­lands’ Bri­an Kwan­sy and Gabriel Os­pina Ro­driguez fin­ished ninth af­ter beat­ing An­gela Fran­sua and Ed­dy Toro Moldon­a­do of Aru­ba 21-13, 21-15, and in the bat­tle for 11th Cu­ra­cao’s Er­nal­do Mo­ta and Ju­r­cham Meu­lens beat Bonaire’s Luiyi Morales and Davi­dlee Win­klaar 21-12, 21-10.

Grant, David­son

stop El Sal­vador

T&T’s Rheeza Grant and Ma­li­ka David­son al­so end­ed their stint in Bonaire on a pos­i­tive note by out­last­ing El Sal­vado­rans Kathya Vasquez and Fer­nan­da Var­gas 14-21, 21-17, 15-11 in their sev­enth spot play­off to re­peat their achieve­ment from two weeks ago in Pun­ta Cana, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic.

The win was an emo­tion­al one for David­son, who ear­li­er on in the day had re­ceived some un­for­tu­nate news about a close rel­a­tive.

She said, “It took me a while to fo­cus on my game af­ter hear­ing about an in­ci­dent back home but cred­it to my part­ner who sup­port­ed me all the way and in the end we came away with a win.”

Grant added, “It was not the out­come we had hoped for over­all but af­ter three days tough days we are hap­py to end on a high.”

Ear­li­er in their fifth to eighth semi­fi­nals, USA-A’s Melis­sa Fuchs and Lind­say Fuller held off Grant and David­son 21-18, 21-16 while Nicaraguans Va­le­ria Men­doza and Lo­lette Ro­driguez won 22-20, 19-21, 15-11 against Vasquez and Var­gas.

The USA-B’s Au­ro­ra Davis and Alexan­dra Wheel­er com­plet­ed a dream de­but tour­na­ment by out­last­ing Mex­i­cans Zaira Orel­lana and Martha Re­vuelta 26-24, 21-19 in the fi­nal.