Despite the return of four key players, including Channon Thompson and Krystelle Esdelle in the T&T team for Thursday's (August 7) fourth encounter of the Pan American Cup in Mexico, T&T’s senior women’s team still failed to cope with a superior Venezuelan outfit that confined them to their fourth loss of the tournament, 3-0.
The result kept the Calypso Spikers winless in Pool B, which meant they will engage in a crossover among the lower-placed teams in the group, for a battle for positions seventh to tenth. The local team’s decision to sacrifice the spike during attacks in favour of the tip-over proved useless, as it afforded the South Americans to keep the ball alive most of the time.
After approximately an hour and two minutes at the Multifunctional Auditorium of the Sports Institute in Colima, Mexico, the Venezuelans stamped their superiority on the match, by claiming the win in the first set 25-17, and ensuring the win was a mere matter of formality. The South Americans sealed the win in the other two sets 25-16 and 25-12, sending coach Deon Hutchinson and his staff back to the dressing room ahead of a clash with Cuba at 2 pm on Friday, August 8, while in another match Costa Rica will clash with the fourth-placed team in Group B, which was scheduled to be settled late on Thursday night (August 7).
The losing effort comes on the heels of a three-set loss to the Dominican Republic 25-9, 25-15, 25-11, coupled with a similar loss to Colombia 25-13, 25-18, 25-11 that came in just over an hour, and led to a rest day on Tuesday, August 5.
However, their return to action against Canada on Wednesday, August 6, drew blanks, as Hutchinson’s charges went down another time 3-0 (13-25, 17-25, 13-25).
Meanwhile, the winners of the round-robin group series will advance to the semifinals, while the second and third-placed teams will battle in a crossover quarterfinal.
In another game on Thursday (August 7), Cuba clobbered Costa Rica 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-16).
