T&T’s LaTeisha Joseph and Suraya Chase will go into their final Pool C match versus unbeaten USA’s Brittany Howard and Kelly Reeves in a must-win situation, if they are to have any chance of reaching the quarterfinals of the opening leg of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour Circuit in Aguascalientes, La Isla de San Maercos, Mexico today.
This after Joseph and Chase endured a tough first day yesterday, first losing to Mexico’s Claudia Rios and Cinthya Cruz 8-21, 5-21 followed by defeat to Nicaraguans Swan Mendoza and Lolette Rodriguez 15-21, 17-21.
In yesterday’s other Pool C matches, Reeves and Howard overcame Mendoza and Lolette 21-13, 21-12 and also defeated Rios and Cruz in a late contest.
Top ranked local women’s beach volleyball duo, Malika Davidson and Phylecia Armstrong, were also expected to compete in the opening leg of the tour as well.
However, T&T women missed their Copa America flight out of Trinidad on Thursday morning and will now look towards the second-leg which serve off in La Paz, Mexico from April 19-23.
The third-leg is carded for Varadero, Cuba, April 26–3 and T&T is is expected to be represented as well. Davidson and Armstrong had earned the right to represent T&T as the points leaders after three stages of the National Beach Volleyball Circuit at Saith Park in Chaguanas, last month.
The duo led the table with 22 points, two ahead of Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman, who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia last week.
Both Davidson and Armstrong, and pair Grant and Blackman were level on 14 points each after the first two stages of the National Beach Volleyball Circuit after winning one leg each. However, in the final of the Third-Leg, Davidson and Armstrong battled their way to a come-from-behind 25-27, 21-14, 15-13 to earn the right to fly the national in Mexico while Joseph and Chase were third on the table with 12 points and earned T&T’s second pair of tickets to Mexico in their absence.
Both Armstrong and Chase are coming off helping Glamorgan to a fourth straight lien on the Flow National Indoor Women’s Premier League title at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo on Sunday last and have never competed on the NORCECA Tour before.
Locally, the National Beach Volleyball Circuit which has been on a break since March 12 and is set to resume on May 5 at Chaguanas.
