T&T men’s beach volleyball team of Marlon Phillip and Daneil Williams had to settle for a second straight 11th placed finish when the second stop of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit at Seven Miles Beach, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, concluded yesterday.
This after the T&T duo outplayed Cayman Islands pair Casey Santamaria and David Wood 21-5, 21-16 in their 11th place play-off.
Earlier in the morning session, USA’s Jon Mesko and Skylar Del Sol defeated Williams and Phillip 21-18, 21-17 in their ninth to 12th place semifinal while El Salvadoreans David Vargas and Carlos Escobar beat Santamaria and Wood 21-12, 21-9 in the other ninth to 12th semifinal.
Coming off an 11th placed finish from 12 teams in the season opening tour series in La Paz, Mexico, two weeks ago, Williams and Phillip went under to Nicaraguans Ruben Mora and Dany Lopez 14-21, 14-21 and were also defeated by first leg winners Karell Pena and Daisel Quesada of Cuba, 14-21, 12-21 before putting up a stronger fight in a loss to Canada’s Maverick Hatch and Garrett May 21-19, 12-21, 11-15 .
However, despite not winning a match in Cayman Islands to date, Williams and Phillip earned T&T a spot at the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Championship by gaining enough spots to cement a top four NORCECA ranking during the cycle along with Canada, Cuba and Guatemala as USA and Mexico were already qualified based on their rankings on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
The national women’s beach volleyball pair La Teisha Joseph and Apphia Glasgow ended a dismal three days of competition with another loss, 12-21, 15-21 to US Virgin Islands Amber Bennett and Melanie Valencia in their 11th place battle.