Pre-tournament favourites, L’fe Roberts and Meeka Johnson in the girls, and boys’ Jerome Morrison and Jahreef Miguel, both lived up to expectations when they won their second straight titles at the T&T Volleyball Federation Girls and Boys Under-18 Invitational Beach Volleyball Tournament at Los Iros Beach, Palo Seco which ended on Sunday night.
This after both pairs were also victorious in the first leg of the Trinbago Tour which was held at Maracas Bay, North Coast on Easter weekend in April.
In the final of the four-team girls’ competition, Roberts and Johnson made light work of the opposing duo, Ayesha Sealey and Rimmel Taylor, to come away with an easy (2-0) 21-7 21-7 victory, their second win over the pair during the two days of competition.
When the girls’ tournament served off on Saturday with round-robin play, Roberts and Johnson defeated Sealey and Taylor (2-0) 21-7, 21-9; Tshiann Millet and Mariah Hemlee (2-0) 21-7, 21-7, and Kristianna Richards/Paige Alexander (2-0) 21-0, 21-0 by default to end with a perfect 3-0 win-loss record and qualified directly to the final.
Richards and Alexander had wins over Millet and Hemlee (2-0) 21-15, 21-7, and Sealey and Taylor (2-0) 21-15, 21-17, however, they defaulted the lone semifinal encounter against Sealey and Taylor, who outplayed Millet and Hemlee (2-0) 21-15, 21-13 for their lone round-robin win.
The boys’ final also ended in straight sets with Morrison and Miguel cruising to a (2-0) 21-10, 21-14 triumph against Dejaun Williams and Josiah Jankey, the latter a replacement for Jedaiah Sanior, who partnered Williams in a 21-18, 14-21, 15-12 loss in last month’s final.
When the tournament began, Morrison and Miguel beat Jaylon Ettiene and Jeremiah Jones (2-0) 21-5, 21-5 and Gianni Salvary and N’kosi Ayoung (2-0) 21-4, 21-7 to top their three-team Group A series while Ettiene and Jones took the second spot after rallying past Salvary and Ayoung (2-1) 16-21, 21-19, 15-11.
In the semifinals, Morrison and Miguel topped Josiah Jankey and Levi Singh (2-0) 21-18, 21-2 while Williams and Jerry Jankey ousted Jadon Morrison and Darion Sparks (2-0) 21-16, 21-15.
The pair of Williams and Jerry Jankey beat Morrison and Sparks (2-0) 24-22, 21-11 and Josiah Jankey and Levi Singh (2-1) 21-12, 19-21, 15-13, to top Group B while Morrison and Sparks ended in the second spot holding off Josiah Jankey and Singh (2-0) 22-20, 21-19.
In the quarterfinals, Josiah Jankey and Levi Singh beat Ettiene and Jones (2-0) 21-15, 21-11 while Morrison and Sparks halted the run of Salvary and Ayoung (2-0) 21-9, 21-16.
On Monday, the tour continued with the men’s and women’s Open Division competitions at the same venue featuring Fabien Whitfield and Daniel Williams, recent sixth-placed finishers in the third leg of the North, Central American, and Caribbean Confederation (NORCECA) Beach Volleyball Tour, the Security Centre Beach Volleyball Tournament in the Cayman Islands.
The winners of both Open Divisions collected a top prize of US$500 each, while the second-placed teams got US$375 each, the third US$250, the fourth US$125, and the teams placed fifth to eight US$50 each while the U-18s compete for trophies and medals.
Among the sponsors were NGC, Massy Stores Limited, Caribbean Bottlers Limited, Carib Brewery Limited and HADCO Limited.
The local beach volleyball tour will then move to Mayaro Beach from June 18-19 (Labour Day weekend); and the CAZOVA Tour in Tobago from August 11-13.
The TTVF will also host two legs of the NORCECA Tour, from July 21-23 at Pigeon Point, Tobago, which will serve as a test piece for the volleyball segment of the Commonwealth Youth Games at Pigeon Point, and the eighth of the ten stops on the tour for the season at Maracas Beach from September 1-3.
