Mexico hold off spirited TT comeback

SHERDON PIERRE

Mexico took a little shine off Trinidad and Tobago’s women volleyballers on Sunday as they edged their hosts 3-2 to be crowned champions of Pool C of the 2018 World Championship Qualifiers NORCECA Continental at the National Cycling Centre, Couva.

Despite both teams already qualifying for next year’s World Championships in Japan, it was far from a friendly match with TT seeking revenge on the Mexicans who shattered their dreams four years ago.

However, TT seemed to be still celebrating their historic achievement and lost the opening sets 25-21, 25-22 with Mexico’s Samantha Bricio looking unstoppable.

TT found themselves trailing again in the third set but Channon Thompson revived the hosts with a powerful spike for arguably the point of tournament which lasted six exchanges. This seemed to have mobilised the local women as they won the set 23-25 to cut the deficit. The Caribbean champions solidified their defensive structure especially libero Afesha Olton and capitalised on the burst of new energy. They led throughout the fourth set and held their nerves to win 22-25 to send the match into a fifth set.

Fatigue may have been a factor to TT’s sluggish start and the Mexicans gave them no reprieve by hurrying to an early 4-1 advantage and never turned back as they stopped the TT comeback attempt to win 15-9 and clinch the title.

Speaking after the match, a disappointed but contented TT captain Krystle Esdelle said, “This is growth, a very big improvement because we fought until the end, long ago we may have given up in the third set. We have to keep building the momentum; we are going to grow because next year we will have to play more games.”

Despite the loss, TT’s coach Francisco Cruz was quite happy with the performance of his team because the ultimate goal was to qualify for the World Championships. He was also thankful for all those who made the long journey possible.

Mexico’s coach Ricardo Naranjo said, “My team has a few outstanding players that play professionally all over the world. The difference in the game was having more experienced players. Long ago TT only had tall and physical players, now they are more skilled and talented.”

TT’s Thompson was the top scorer in the match with 24 points (20 spikes) while Darlene Ramdin had 15 points (15 spikes). The tournament`s Most Valuable Player Mexican Samantha Bricio had 23 points (19 spikes, 3 aces). In the previous match, Costa Rica notched their first victory of the campaign with a 3-0 (25:14, 25:13, 25:13) victory over Dominica.