T&T’s Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield lived up to their top ranking in the men’s division at the 2016 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour season opener by winning their first match in Pool A in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Friday.
The Toco-born T&T pair, who are using the tournament, the first of the season as part of their continued preparations for the Third Round of Norceca Continental Championship qualifiers to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later this year first defeated Guadeloupe’s Steeve Burgatha and Frantz-Olivier Karam, 21-14, 21-17 in 36 minutes.
Two-time bronze medal winners on the tour last year, and three-time bronze finishers in the tournament’s history, Williams and Whitfield were carded to meet Guatemalans Franklin Flores and Jose Hernandez Armando Reyes in their second match last night ahead of their 1.20pm clash today with Mexico’s Jose Luis Rubio and Josue Gaxiola.
Rubio and Gaxiola won their first match as well against Flores and Reyes, 21-10, 21-16, and Burgatha and Karam, So far, five men’s team have qualified to the quarterfinals by ending with 2-0 records ahead of this morning final round of group matches.
In Pool B, Canada’s James Battiston and Garrett May are 2-0 while in Pool C, Nicaraguans Alejandro Mora and Antonio Lopez, and USA’s William Allen and Stafford Slick, as well as Pool D teams, Crabb brothers, Taylor and Trevor, and Andy Leonardo and Luis Garcia of the host country.
The third round of the men qualifiers take place in St Lucia from May 26-30, and Williams and Whitfield along with Simon Blake and Christian Francois comprised the T&T men’s team that ended second to US Virgin Islands in the Norceca Second Round Olympic qualifiers held at Castaway Beach, Antigua, in January.
In the women’s draw, T&T’s Ayana Dyette and Malika Davidson will go into today’s match with Guatemalans, Dayrin Alarcon and Ana Lucia Villagran in a must-win situation for the runner-up spot in Pool D behind USA’s Allison Daley-Mc Colloch and Kelly Reeves.
This after Dyette and Davidson went under to Mc Colloch and Reeves, 9-21, 11-21 in 33 minutes, but rebounded to beat US Virgin Islands’ Mannika Charles and Kimberly Hohl, 21-18, 21-17 in a tense battle that lasted 51 minutes to end the day with a 1-1 record.
Alarcon and Villagran overwhelmed Charles and Hohl 21-19, 21-19, but were beaten by Mc Colloch and Reeves, 9-1, 6-21. In addition to Daley-Mc Colloch and Reeves, six other teams ended the first day with 2-0 record and are certain of spots in the quarterfinals.
They included, top ranked Cubans, Linma Flores and Leila Martin, and Canada’s Camille Saxton and Rachel Cockrell in Pool A; Pool B pairings, Claudia Rios and Gloria Santoyo of Mexico, and USA’s Kendra Vanzwieten and Kimberly Dicello, and in Pool C, Canada’s Julie Gordon/Brandie Wilkerson, and Nicaraguans Elia Torres/Lolette Rodriguez.
Last month Dyette and Davidson, along with Apphia Glasgow and La Teisha Joseph combined to lead the T&T women’s team to the gold medal in their Norceca Second Round Olympic qualifiers at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, after ending second to Jamaica in the first round Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) qualifiers which were held in Jamaica as well, last year.
The third round of the women Olympic qualifiers are carded for El Salvador from May 12-16 and will involve the top teams from the CAZOVA, Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association second round qualifiers and the top Central American countries.
This year, a record 18 beach volleyball are on scheduled to be hosted by Norceca with the T&T Volleyball Federation hosting the final leg, yet again from November 24-28, in Tobago.