Trinidad and Tobago stumble in Norceca U-18 beach volleyball

Trinidad and Tobago's men's and women's teams were dumped from the group stage of the North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Under-18 Beach Volleyball Championship Qualifiers when action continued at the Juan Dolio beach in Dominican Republic on July 8.

In the men's qualifiers, the pair of Josie Cedeno and Darion Sparks finished at the bottom of the pool C after losses on July 7 and 8. In their opening match on July 7, the TT team lost in straight sets to Cayman Islands (22-24, 13-21). In their second game, TT lost to the Guatemalan team of Fredy Luna and Robin Oliva, who ran away 21-5, 21-13 victors.

Guatemala topped the group as they got a 21-17, 12-21, 15-7 win over Cayman Islands in their first pool C match.

In the classification matches to determine teams finishing nine to 12th, Cedeno and Sparks got their first win of the competition when they defeated the US Virgin Islands team in straight sets (21-6, 21-19). On July 9, the TT team will return to the sand to contest the ninth place playoff.

In the women's under-18 qualifiers, the TT team of Sarah Mohammed and Jenissa Morrison also had a challenging time as they lost all three pool B matches. In their first match on July 7, the TT women went down 3-21, 8-21 to El Salvador. In their second match, the TT women went under 7-21, 9-21 to the Puerto Rican pair of Itzamar Arana and Yamila Gonzalez.

In their final match of the group on July 8, Mohammed and Jenissa suffered another straight sets loss as they as they fell 4-21, 7-21 to Costa Rica who finished one spot above their TT counterparts in third.

The top five teams in the male and female divisions will qualify automatically to the Federation International de Volleyball World Championships which will be held in Qatar from October 7-11.