T&T’s senior women’s volleyball team squandered a 24–11 lead in the third set en route to a 24–26, 21–25, 24–26 loss to Peru, their third in a row in Group A at the 13th Pan American Volleyball Cup at the Juan De La Barrera Gymnasium, Mexico City, Mexico, yesterday. With the loss, T&T stayed bottom of the six-team pool with a 0–3 record while Peru, which was coming off a heartbreaking five-set loss to Mexico on Thursday night, improved to 1–2. On Wednesday night, T&T, the reigning five-time Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association champions suffered their second loss in as many days, 23–25, 14–25, 24–26 to Canada.
Lisa Barclay led the balanced offence of Canada with 13 points while Rebecca Pavan, Marissa Field and Brittney Page each charted ten, nine and eight points, respectively, in the win.
For T&T, which was still without middle-blocker Sinead Jack, captain Krystle Esdelle had a match-high 14 points in the loss while Darlene Ramdin got six, Jalicia Ross-Kydd five and the duo of Renele Forde and Channon Thompson, four each. In the other Pool A matches, Dominican Republic overwhelmed a youthful Cuba 24–26, 25–17, 25–21, 25-21 and Mexico outlasted Peru 25–23, 16–25, 28–26, 21–25, 15–11 while in Pool B at the Carlos Martinez Balmori Multi-purpose Hall in Pachuca, Hildago, Puerto Rico humbled Costa Rica 25–15, 25–11, 25–19 and two-time defending champion USA swept past Argentina 25–20, 25–14, 25–20.
Today, T&T which was beaten in straight sets by two-time champion Dominican Republic on Wednesday will tackle Cuba from 4 pm before ending round-robin play host Mexico on Sunday night from 8 pm to end round-robin play. The tournament in Mexico, comes less than a month after T&T ended second to the same youthful Cubans in their FIVB Women’s World Championship Norceca Third Round qualifiers to Italy last month in La Habana, Cuba and is serving as preparations for the fourth and final round of FIVB World qualifiers at Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Chaguanas, involving Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, from July 14–22. The winners of each of the pool at the end of the round-robin series will qualify straight to the semifinals while the second and third placed teams will meet in cross-over quarterfinals ahead of the semifinals and final.
Today’s Matches
Group A:
Venue: Juan De La Barrera Gymnasium, Mexico City, City:
4 pm: T&T vs Cuba
6 pm: Peru vs Dominican Republic
8 pm: Mexico vs Canada
Group B:
Venue: Carlos Martinez Balmori Multi-purpose Hall in Pachuca, Hildago
4 pm: Colombia vs Argentina
6 pm: Brazil vs Puerto Rico
8 pm: Costa Riva vs USA