Trinidad and Tobago beach volleyballers confident ahead of NORCECA contest

SHERDON PIERRE

TRINIDAD AND Tobago male and female squads are full of confidence heading into the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Under-23 Beach Volleyball Tournament, starting on Saturday in the Cayman Islands.

The group matches begin on Saturday morning followed by the knockout phase and final on Sunday.

The female pair of Tsyan Selvon and Britney Choon are in good competition form winning their last two tournaments of the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) U-23 Women`s Beach Volleyball Tournament held at home in August.

In their three group stage matches, Selvon and Choon will face USA`s team of Ella Connor/Piper Ferch, then the two Cayman Islands teams of Anjia Delapenha/Lucie Finlason and Brianna Delapenha/Joanna Robinson.

Selvon said, “Having won gold in the two U-23 CAZOVA legs in August in TT, we are entering this NORCECA tournament a bit confident. This skill level of the players of this tournament is a lot higher as we are going up against teams like Canada and USA.”

She added, “I`m excited to see how we match up against the higher-ranked teams. We have been preparing for months and we feel we can put forward a great effort and hopefully bring home a medal again for TT.”

Joshua Persaud and Nicholas Williams, who are also teammates at local club Zenith Volleyball Club, bagged gold and silver medals in the two CAZOVA tournaments in August.

The TT male players will battle against Jamaicans Lovelet Blake/Andrae Robb, Caleb Blanchette/Dylan McClung (USA) and home pair of Declan Van Dam/Jabari Powery.

Persaud said, “This tournament will give us a good indication teams against the seasoned teams. We hope to bring home the best results for TT. We have established ourselves as the number one team in TT and we are happy to showcase our talent on a bigger stage.”

Williams said, “I want to thank God for this opportunity to represent TT in this tournament. Moving from CAZOVA to NORCECA, we expect more of a challenge and this is our preparation for the inaugural CAC Games in Santa Marta, Colombia in November.”