T&T men’s beach volleyball team of Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield secured the seventh spot from 16 teams when the second leg of the 2023 North, Central American, and Caribbean Confederation (Norceca) Tour concluded in Varadero, Cuba, yesterday.
This after their scheduled opponents in the seventh spot playoff, Puerto Ricans Kevin Rodríguez, and Josué Rivera were forced to forfeit the match due to an injury, handing the T&T duo a 21-0, 21-0 win.
Earlier in the morning session, Williams and Whitfield were outlasted by Canada’s Jake MacNeil, and William Russell in the fifth to eight spot semifinal playoff 21-17, 13-21, 11-15 in 54 minutes while Dominican Republic’s Oscar Martínez, and Francisco Goris, defeated Rodríguez, and Rivera 21-14, 21-19 in 38 minutes.
On Saturday in the main draw quarterfinals, the T&T men were stopped in their quest for a podium finish by USA’s Troy Field and Tucker Silila, 15-21, 18-21 in 39 minutes.
When the 16-team tournament served off on Friday, Whitfield and Williams outlasted Costa Ricans Daniel Dyner, and Jhostin Varela 21-19, 21-14 in a match that lasted one hour, and 24 minutes while Jorge Barajas and Gabriel Cruz of Mexico beat US Virgin Islands Cullen Diehl, and Andrzej Orzarski 21-7, 21-6.
However, in their second match, the T&T duo went under to Barajas and Cruz 13-21, 16-21 while Dyner and Varela defeated Diehl, and Orzarski 21-11, 21-12 to keep alive their qualification chances as well.
But it was not to be as the T&T men swept by the USVI duo 21-1, 21-9 to end in second spot with a 2-1 record, while Barajas and Cruz defeated Dyner and Varela 21-15, 21-17 to end with a perfect 3-0 record.
The T&T men buoyed by their top seven finish will look to continue to improve as they head straight to the third leg on the Norceca Tour in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands with the first day of competition set for Friday, May 19 until Sunday, May 21 before the competition moves to Macao Beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic June (6-9); and then back at Grand Cayman from July 6 to 9, followed by two stages in T&T in Pigeon Beach, Tobago, in July (July 21 to 23), and Maracas Bay in September (1-3); and then it’s back to the Dominican Republic in Puerto Plata (September 28 to October 2), and Juan Dolio Beach (October 5 to 9).
In the main draw semifinals, Portes and Martinez upstaged four-time 2022 tour medal winners, Diaz and Alayo 21-14, 21-18 in an all-Cuban battle while USA’s Field and Silila beat Barajas and Cruz 21-14, 21-19.
The historic local pair of Williams of Whitfield, four-time medal winners (one silver and three bronze) on the tour had their partnership broken up in 2016 after the latter received a four-year suspension for a prohibited substance during the 2016 Norceca Beach Tour.