T&T Under-20 women's volleyball team will play the classification playoffs semifinal for places seventh to tenth today after ending Pool B round-robin action without a win at the Norceca Women's Junior Continental Championship in Mexico on Tuesday. This after the local squad suffered a 25-8, 25-10, 25-13 loss to Cuba at the High Development Centre Gym, in Tijuana. Going into the match, the Macsood Ali-coached T&T girls' needed a win to have a chance at qualifying for the main draw playoffs after losing its opener to Puerto Rico, 25-10, 25-9, 25-20 on Monday when the ten-team tournament served off. But, they were no match for the Cubans, who enjoyed advantages of 10-3 in blocks and 14-6 in serves, to join Puerto Rico at the top of the table ahead of their Pool B decider last night. T&T dropped to 0-2 record.
Cuban Sulian Matienzo compiled three aces and two blocks en route to 12 points while Yunieska Robles added 12, and Regla Gracia notched ten points including four blocks. The last set was the best for the T&T and even though they struggled, it was all part of a learning experience. "It is part of our process, playing against Cuba is always a big experience, because they have a great level and in this kind of matches is when you learn a lot", sail Ali.
Three-time defending champions, and four-time winners overall, USA, host Mexico and Dominican Republic also had straight set victories. The Dominican Republic crushed Costa Rica 25-12, 25-8, 25-6 in their first match in Pool A ahead of its group decider with Canada, who whip the Costa Ricans 26-24, 25-18, 25-21 on Monday. The USA followed up its win over El Salvador (25-8, 25-4, 25-7) by blasting Guadeloupe 25-8, 25-7, 25-6, both on Tuesday. Mexico, meanwhile downed El Salvador 25-13, 25-7, 25-8 on Tuesday to add to Monday's 25-6, 25-11, 25-8 over Guadeloupe.
El Salvador played two matches on Tuesday after arriving late for the tournament which forced a slight change in the round-robin schedule. USA and Mexico were due to meet for top spot in the group in last night's final round-robin fixture ahead of today's playoff matches and quarterfinals. At the end of last night's round-robin, the two pool's winners with better points-ratio will advance directly to the semifinal round with the other first ranked team going to the quarterfinals to play against the second placed sides. The third placed teams and the fourth placed team in Group C will meet in semifinal playoffs for seventh and tenth ahead of playoff matches for seventh through tenth. At the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday, the top three teams will qualify for the FIVB Women's Junior World Championship to be held later this year.
Results
Pool A: Dominican Republic bt Costa Rica 25-12, 25-8, 25-6
Pool B: Cuba bt T&T 25-8, 25-10, 25-13
Pool C: Mexico bt El Salavador 25-13, 25-7, 25-8
USA bt Guadeloupe 25-8, 25-7, 25-6.
USA bt El Salvador 25-8, 25-4, 25-7