The local pairings of Daniel Williams and Marlon Phillip and Malika Davidson and La Teisha “Chucky” Joseph ended in seventh and eighth position in their respective men’s and women’s competition when the 11th and final leg of the NORCECA Continental Beach Volleyball Circuit concluded in Tobago, yesterday.
Playing at the Courland Heritage Park, Turtle Beach, Williams and Phillip survived a tense battle with Guatemalans, Luis Garcia and Erick Garrido 22-20, 21-18 in their seventh place playoff.
This after Williams and Phillip were beaten by Canada’s Michael Plantinga and Grant O’Gorman 15-21, 10-12 in their fifth to eighth spot semifinal also yesterday, while Garcia and Garrido fell to USA’s Mark Burik and Stafford Slick, 18-21, 9-21.
On Saturday, Williams and Phillip were ousted from medal contention following a 13-21, 12-21 quarterfinal loss to USA’s Theodore Brunner and William Allen while Garcia and Garrido bowed to Cubans, Sergio Gonzalez and Nivaldo Diaz 14-21, 14-21.
When the three-day event served off on Friday, Williams and Phillip ended second in Pool D with a 1-2 record.
The top T&T men’s pairing defeated Hondurans, Jesus Olivia and Oscar Salgado 21-14, 19-21, 15-12 and followed it up with a win over St Kitts/Nevis duo, Stedroy Collins and Rohan Jeffers 21-12, 21-11, before falling to Cubans Gonzalez and Diaz 10-21, 13-21 in their Pool decider.
In Pool C, USA’s William Allen and Theodore Brunner outplayed locals Christian Francois and Josiah Eccles 21-12, 21-4 while the latter also went under to William Sanchez and Alex Medina of Dominican Republic, 17-21, 14-21; and Guatemala’s Garcia and Garrido, 15-21, 12-21.
The third T&T men’s pair, Kevin James and Stephan James were beaten in three of their four round-robin matches, 4-21, 7-21 against Canada’s Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter as well as US Virgin Islands, Dillon Lesniak and Ozz Borges, 11-21, 7-21; and Cubans, Daisel Quesada and Karel Pena, 5-21, 8-21.
However, the Tobago duo of James and James avoided cellar-spot in the group courtesy a 21-12, 21-10 beating of Anguillans,
Aristo Richardson and Rashime Richardson.
In the playoffs for lower positions, Francois and Eccles won from Olivia and Salgado 18-21, 21-15, 15-10 while El Salvador’s Franklin Flores and Armando Guatemala stopped James and James, 21-14, 21-10.
But in the losers semifinal, Francois and Eccles came up short against Lesniak and Borges 10-21, 18-21 ahead of their 11th loss by default with Flores and Guatemala,.
The women’s pair of La Teisha Joseph and Malika Davidson went under to Costa Ricans, Marcela Araya and Eugenia
Ramirez 11-21, 14-21 to finish eighth.
It was the second meeting between both teams after the Central Americans won 12-21, 12-21 in their round-robin pool opener.