Trinidad and Tobago’s senior women’s volleyballers ended in the eighth spot when the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship ended at the Volleyball Palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday.
This was after the inexperienced Calypso Spikers suffered a 14-25, 7-25, 13-25 loss in 63 minutes to finish with a win-loss record in their five matches, which is a combination of the group stages and playoff matches.
Leading the way for the Costa Ricans was Maria Sofia Valle with a match high of 14 points, while Maria Grant added 11, and the Thompson sisters, Lakysha and Valeria, nine each, as they outscored T&T in attacks (44-12) and service aces (4-3), while they also benefited from 24 T&T errors to the 16 they committed.
Sadie Torkar was the main scorer for the ‘Calypso Spikers’ with seven points, with Rayquelle Dickson and Deyonce Legall chipping in with four points each.
Speaking on his team’s display, the team’s head coach Gideon Dickson, whose team features no fewer than 11 players under 23 years old, said, “The girls are young, 19 and 21 years old, and from the beginning we knew how we would fare in this tournament, but the experience gained is very valuable for the future and for moving up a level.”
Also, Puerto Rico battled past Mexico 25-16, 23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-11 for fifth place, to secure a berth in the 2027 FIVB Women’s World Cup as well as qualification to the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
In the bronze medal match, the Dominican Republic faced Cuba while the USA and Canada faced off in the final.
On Monday night in the main draw semifinals, seven-time winners USA advanced to the gold medal match after defeating three-time reigning champions and host Dominican Republic in straight sets, 25-19, 25-18, and 25-10, while Canada also won in straight sets, 25-19, 25-13, and 25-17, over 13-time champions Cuba to reach the gold medal match for the first time since 1989.
In addition to the continental title, three berths to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship will be at stake as well as qualification spots on the path to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The top four teams in the final standings, excluding the USA as the host country of the Olympic Games, will advance to the NORCECA Continental Qualifier, to be held at the same venue on August 28-29, with one Olympic berth at stake.
The USA has already qualified for the Olympic Games as the host nation of Los Angeles 2028.
