T&T’s Adalia Badroe and Shanice Cottoy will compete for the fifth when the Under-23 Tournament as part of the 2024 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour concludes on the courts located on Los Corales Beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Wednesday.
The tournament is also serving as a qualifier to the Junior Pan American Games, with the top four teams securing their places in Paraguay, August 9 to 23, next year.
This after the T&T women were beaten by Cubans Maykalin Drik and Mileidy Paret 9-21, 6-21 in their quarterfinal to set up a fifth-to-eight-placed semifinal playoff against Canada’s Emma Cudmore and Sophie Hancock, who defaulted their last-eight clash with USA’s Isabella Martínez and Ella Connor due to injury.
However, due to the injury, the Canada team will take no further part in the competition, which guarantees the T&T women a fifth-to-eight semifinal win where they will do battle with the winners of the other quarterfinal losers semifinal between Daniela Vigil and Karla Tovar of El Salvador and Guatemala’s Ana Arevalo and Danna Aguilar.
In the other main draw quarterfinals, Costa Ricans Laura Molina and Aliza Aguilar beat Vigil and Tovar 21-17, 21-14, and will meet Dominican Republic ‘B’ duo, Crismil Paniagua and Darlenys Olivo, who ousted Arevalo and Aguilar 21-14, 20-22, 15-11.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Badroe and Cottoy were outclassed by Paniagua and Olivo, 4-21, 8-21 in 23 minutes in their Pool A decider to end with a 2-1 record while the latter finished 3-0.
On Monday, when the tournament served off, Badroe and Cottoy defeated Reanna Robinson and Nayelli Fergus of St Vincent and the Grenadines 21-13, 17-21, and 16-14 in 46 minutes, while Paniagua and Olivo also won against Robinson and Fergus, 21-10, 21-8.
With the three other groups all having four teams, each of the three teams in Pool A was handed a default win.
In Pool B, Drik and Paret also ended 3-0 in the round-robin after beating Ella Resau and Norma Brenes of Nicaragua 21-11, 21-14 in their final match, while Arevalo and Aguilar took the second spot at 2-1 after their 21-17, 21-16 win over Dominican Republic ‘B’ pair Zoe Paniagua and Anicaury Baez 21-17, 21-16.
On Monday, the Cubans defeated Paniagua and Baez 21-19, 21-11, and Arevalo and Aguilar 21-10, 21-15, while in the two other Pool B matches, Resau and Brenes won against Paniagua and Baez 21-9, 21-6, and Arevalo and Aguilar defeated Resau and Brenes, 21-18, 21-16.
The pairs of Martínez and Connor won their face-off with Vigil and Tovar for the top spot in Pool C courtesy of a 21-11, 21-6 win to end 3-0 to the latter’s 2-1 mark. .
In their earlier matches, Vigil and Tovar won against Cayman Islands’ Joanna Robinson and Luna Ebanks 21-14, 21-12, and Canada B’s Maya Boutanos and Kate Chipman 21-9, 21-15, while Martinez and Connor won 21-9, 21-13 versus Boutanos and Chipman, and 21-6, 21-5 over Robinson and Ebanks. Boutanos and Kate Chipman got their lone win, 21-13, 21-12 over Robinson and Ebanks.
And in Pool D, Molina and Aguilar emerged as the winners after Cudmore and Hancock defaulted due to injury in their top-of-the-table clash.
The Costa Ricans beat Bermudan sisters Kaylee Trott and Hailey Trott 21-8, 21-0, and US Virgin Islands’ Kirra Lambert and Sophia Peifer-Del Valle 21-10, 21-14, while Cudmore and Hancock also won against Lambert and Peifer-Del Valle 21-12, 21-10, and the Trott sisters 21-4, 21-10 in their other matches.
The Trott sisters avoided the cellar spot in the pool with their 21-13, 21-17 beating of Lambert and Peifer-Del Valle.
The local women’s team qualified to the NORCECA competition after they emerged as winners when the T&T Volleyball Federation’s (T&TVF) Trinbago Beach Volleyball Tour Under-23 qualifiers took place at Saith Park Chaguanas last month.
