Trinidad and Tobago men finish 8th at NORCECA Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championships

The Trinidad and Tobago pair of Jahreef Miguel and Jerome Morrison got an eighth-place finish when the 2025 North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Under-21 Beach Volleyball Championship Qualifiers concluded at Juan Dolio beach, Dominican Republic, on July 6.

Miguel and Morrison placed second in pool C behind Costa Rica, before losing to eventual champions US in the quarterfinals (22-24, 7-21). With the top five teams in the competition gaining automatic qualification to the main draw of the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) Under-21 World Championships in Puebla, Mexico in October, the onus was still on the TT pair to try and get that elusive fifth spot.

In a battle against El Salvador, another losing quarterfinalist, TT agonisingly lost 17-21, 17-21 to fall to the seventh-place playoff. In the seventh-place playoff against the Nicaraguan pair of Justin Barrios and Deyner Lopez, Miguel and Morrison put up a good fight in the first set but lost 16-21, before losing the second set 6-21 to suffer a straight sets loss.

The teams which finished sixth to ninth at the NORCECA Championships will contest a qualifier in Mexico to try and advance to the main draw of the World Championships.

The El Salvador team of Fernando Ortiz and Rafael Vargas eventually landed the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot. The other teams to earn automatic qualification were the US, Costa Rica, Canada and Dominican Republic.

On July 7, the TT pair of Sarah Mohammed and Jenissa Morrison lost their first two pool B games in the Women's Under-18 Beach Volleyball World Championship qualifiers when they went down to both El Salvador and Puerto Rico in straight set losses. In the first match versus the El Salvador pair of Devora Medina and Fatima Rendon, the TT team lost 3-21, 8-21. In their second game, TT struggled again as they lost 7-21, 9-21 to the Puerto Rican team of Yamila Gonzalez and Itzamar Martinez. Jenissa and Mohammed will face Costa Rica in their final pool B match from 9 am on July 8. Costa Rica have also lost their first two games.

Also on July 7, the TT pair of Josie Cedeno and Darion Sparks experienced a tough loss in their opening encounter in the Men's Under-18 World Championship qualifiers as they lost 22-24, 13-21 to the Cayman Islands pair of William Duty and Dylan Lynee in their pool C match. From 10.20 am on July 8, Cedeno and Sparks will play a Guatemalan team which edged Cayman 2-1 in their opening match.

Similar to the Under-21 tourney, the top five teams in the male and female divisions will qualify automatically to the world championships. The FIVB Under-18 World Championship will be held in Doha, Qatar, from October 7-11.